Return to Labyrinth
by Amaterusa
Summary: Jareth has fought fate and time has finally run out. A bet made with another ruling Queen has him searching for a way out and he uses Toby, Sarah's little brother, to help. But things might already be too far lost and with the Queen keeping Sarah out of Labyrinth, things have gotten dangerous too. Can Underground be the answer to everything or is it as Jareth fears; too late. SXJ
1. Chapter 1 Toby and Sarah

Sorrow, rage and pity; these are all that is left after a human woman left the King of the Goblins to return to her world with her young brother Toby. He was not the only one left with scars from his love for her though. In her world she had discarded all things that would remind her of him. First with the book which had first told her his existence and his world, then her toys which had she cherished so much. Next she rid herself of her stories which she told often to her brother at bedtime when she soothed him to sleep before turning on the very creatures she had once befriended in the land of Labyrinth. Last and with difficult effort and time that took years to manage, she eventually made decent effort in erasing his memory from her mind, but still that was not enough. She did away with her dreams of the theater to smother her fantasies which ended crushing her hopes and aspirations.

She had parted from her house and family and kept a distant, but always constant, relationship with the brother she had once risked so much for. He was the only thing of Jareth she could never erase.

.

"Sarah? You home?" The phone had rung so long that the answering machine had picked up and Sarah stared blankly at the blinking numerals in shining indigo. She picked up the phone after a moment and answered.

"Yes? Toby? What are you doing calling so late?" Where she now lived there was a four hour time difference which meant that although it was only 1 AM here, it was 5 AM where he was.

"I was bored. It's the holidays you know… I can stay up as long as I'd like Sarah." She forgot he was not a baby anymore and was 17. "I was thinking I might come and visit. I saved up the money mother's been sending and figured I'd make a surprise show up, but you never know if you might have a boyfriend or something…" She knew he was lying… the only relationships she'd had since she was his age were short and not so sweat. "You _are_ free right?"

She almost didn't want to answer. She had not seen him in a year and she wondered why he wouldn't wish to go somewhere nice or maybe with friends instead of coming to see her. She wouldn't lie to herself and say the thought didn't please her though and sighed into the phone receiver.

"I suppose you could stay for a while… I don't have much to do right now at this time of year other than work… make sure to tell your mother that you'll be coming. She'll be angry if she can't call you… father would like to know too." Another thing she regretted when erasing things from her life was the way she had treated her step-mother, but she was never able to get passed the fact the somehow she had felt she had been trying to take the place of someone she just couldn't replace. So many regrets…

"Great, then would you mind opening your door, it's flipping cold out here…" Sarah looked out her front window and sure enough at her door her red haired brother stood shivering in the rain.

"You're an idiot." She hung up the phone and tossed it onto the table. When it landed it smacked into a small jewelry box that flicked open and began playing the song inside. It hadn't played more than a few notes and she slammed the box shut.

"Just a minute Toby!" She yelled at the door as she shoved the box away on the top shelf of her book case. It would remain there for a long time or until she managed probably months later to return it to its proper place.

"Ah, jeeze… it's freaking freezing out there. Why do you live here?" She closed the door behind him and moved his suitcase into the hall. She was unsure if she should hug him, but ended up embraced him lovingly never the less. Their relationship was an odd one. She had ended up loving him more than she would have thought considering how much he had driven her insane in his youth. It was amazing how much saving another's life can change that way you think and feel.

"Man, this place is pretty nice… You must work your ass off for all of this…" She watched him eye her living room before he ran to the bathroom.

"Oh yeah…" He stuck his head out from the door and smiled. "You got an awesome bathroom compared to the dorms…" He had been easy to please in most ways and too easy at accepting things that shouldn't have been easy. That had been one of the reasons she had stopped reading him her stories when he was young.

"Well, I have two spare rooms upstairs. Pick anyone you want and I'll pull out some sheets and blankets for your bed. Un, have you eating yet?" She over looked the curtain hanging wide open and unable to stand it she walked over and closed it tightly. She cursed herself for being so weak and often feared gazing outside her window if on such an occasion a white owl might perch found in the nearby tree…

_You are insane Sarah… get a grip… it's been years…_

"Hey Sarah? You still got those books you used to read to me when I was young? I was telling a girl in my biology class about them and she didn't believe that'd I'd listen to such stories." She locked the front door and paused a moment before turning around.

"No, I got rid of all that stuff when I moved out. Remember?" He seemed to ignore her as he walked into her kitchen and ransacked her fridge. She sighed and walked in after him. "You know I didn't allow you to come here to raid my fridge… Cretin." She cuffed him in the back of the head and he swiped back at her playfully.

"You've always been a bully Sarah." He ran out of the room as the doorbell rang. "Booty-call perhaps?" Sarah slapped him in the back of the head again and walked towards the door, for the first time in years she was calm and without paranoia. She peeked out the small window in the door, but she couldn't see anyone. She checked the lock and it was still snapped shut.

"Stupid kids… I thought that had been burned out of the new generation…" Toby sat down on the couch and opened a can of Pepsi he had taken from the fridge.

As she eyed outside through the small window, Toby began to hum and outside a shadow passed over one of the furthest street lights. She gripped the door handle tightly before unlocking the door and stepping outside while Toby still hummed.

The weather outside was cold as the rain fell down in sheets. In the sky below the rain clouds she searched for birds of any kind. None flew in the late night and a gust of wind ruffled her clothes and whipped her hair into a tangled mess. In her head she heard not only Toby's humming, but instruments. Bells, flutes, sounds that chimed and she began to also hum.

"Sarah." Startled she stopped and the song in her mind faltered. "Sarah." She could almost mistake the voice for being deeper, cooler…

"Sarah?" A hand gripped her shoulder. "Stop dazing woman and close the door. It's freezing outside." She closed the door and realized how much cold air she had let in and cranked the thermostat to 75.

"I have to get up early in the morning so I won't be here when you wake up. I'll leave the spare keys out so if you leave you can lock the door behind you." She grabbed her pajamas, a towel from the linen closet before closing and locking the bathroom door.


	2. Chapter 2 'Say You're Right Words'

The following days after Toby began to stay with Sarah were normal for them both, despite that Sarah found it exceedingly hard to ignore Toby when he hummed a tune she doubted he even knew the origin of.

"Toby… would you stop that humming… you're driving me insane." She closed the cupboard and took the fruit snacks she bought to fend of candy cravings. Sadly they only worked if she ate 3 of them in one sitting.

"Huh? Why? I like it…" She wouldn't admit that she often found herself humming the same tune and that was where her discomfort came from. She hated that and although he recalled nothing of being with Jareth or of being in the Labyrinth at all, he could still recall the music box tainted with his presence.

"Hey Sarah? Woah Shi…" A crashing sound caught her attention and she could hear Toby cursing. "Sarah! For crying out loud… nothing like leaving a death trap for someone, un?" She stepped out from the kitchen and Toby lay sprawled across the floor holding his foot. He picked up a small figurine that must have fallen from her book shelf and brandished it at her. "Stupid thing tripped me and I stubbed my toe on the stupid couch…"

She bent down and took the figurine from him and placed it on the book shelf. When she set it down Toby was getting up and she watched him hobble over to the beige love seat she had. She laughed at the way he hopped over and plopped down.

"You look funny when you hobble around, gimp" She smothered her laughter when he glared at her and she grabbed a pack of frozen carrots from the freezer. "Will you live?"

"Yeah… you've become rather smart since I last saw you… When'd that happen?" He took the carrots from her and peeled of his sock, his toe was swollen and blue formed under his big toe.

"That's gonna blister… You did a good job." He sneered at her and winced when the ice pack touched his foot.

Sarah was caught off guard when the doorbell rang and from the front window she peered at the door expecting to see no-one, but she was mistaken this time.

"Hold on!" The lock clanked open and she turned the latch to open the door.

"Can I help you?" But when she finally opened the door no one stood in its frame. "Hello?" She looked from side to side with no evidence of anyone having been there. She called out once more, but still no reply and she closed the door behind her. For a moment she pondered whether to lock the door, but she forced herself for just this once to leave it open… the feeling that told her think about it was crushing under annoyance.

"Ah, Sarah?" She returned to the living room and Toby pointed across the room. "When did you get a dog?" At the other end of the room stood the white haired sheep dog like the one she once had when she was young.

"Merlin?" The dog did not respond and continued to just look at her. For a moment her mind reeled and her balance seemed to want to tip her over. "Ambrosias?" The dog gave a single whine before turning and running out of the living room towards her back door. "Wait!" She chased after it, but when she reached the back door it was closed and the dog was gone.

"You have no power over me…" She whispered. It was the one thing she would say when she feared her dreams were coming to haunt her again… and right now she felt a full on attack.

"Sarah…?" Toby's voice echoed strangely from living room and she spun back into see what was wrong. She could have imagined a thousand things at this point. Anything could have happened except what did. She could see Jareth standing there with Toby in his clutches or even having her whole living room crawling with little goblins, but when she came back; the room was empty.

"Toby?" Memories surged in her, fear near crippled her as she called out his name again. The tone almost exactly as it had been long ago. "Toby? Where are you?" Still nothing. She wanted now to hear the sound of the goblins laughing at her because then at least she knew what was going on. As it was she just felt like she was going mad. "Toby?" Nothing. Only silence… A single name sat frozen on her lips. One she feared to speak aloud. One she didn't want to trust if it meant invoking a repeat of… god only knew.

"Jareth…" No one answered. The name sounded foreign on her tongue as it had since she had categorized him as anathema. She was sweating like a terror stuck child and the words came from her lips like she remembered doing when she was innocent, young and utterly stupid.

"G-g…" She could feel the heat and tears at her eyes as she tried to force the words out of her. "Goblin-King, Goblin-King, where ever you may be…" The air seemed to crackle with some kind of magic and then it stopped, faltered and failed.

"_Say your right words…" _Her head began to ache; an intense lance of heat in her temple.

"I can't say the right words!"

The world remained as it always had been for Sarah and yet the same as it had been while under Jareth's spell. She was alone and Toby was nowhere to be found.


	3. Chapter 3 Barred from Labyrinth

There was no sitting down and thinking things out clearly. There was not even the chance to think at all when her brain had already run away with her matured mind to a place she would only dream of.

"Do it Sarah… " She tried to goad herself into it, but the words failed every time. There was no mocking tone from the Goblin-King. No laughter at her continual failed attempts and only Toby's clothes remained to tell her that she was not crazy and somewhere, somehow, Toby had been here and had been taken from her own house. If it hadn't been for Ambrosias she wouldn't even being attempting what she was.

She wiped the tear at her eyes as if to fend off the onslaught that raged behind her lids; then it hit her.

"Why Ambrosias? Why now and why him?" With unsteady feet she walked again to the back door and closed her hand around the latch. Vertigo threatened to upend her and making a wish in her head she turned the door and opened it with eyes pinched shut.

Wind… warm and smelling of sweet earth and turned soil, she saw the light filtering through her eyes even when closed; the warmth when the sun kissed her bare shoulders was real. She took a step out of the door and the wind tugged her hair into a dance with the torrents. She let go of the door and it closed behind her with a mind jarring 'snap'.

"Welcome back, Sarah." She welcomed herself to the foreign sun that reigned over Labyrinth. In the distance like a spire or beacon, the tall towers of Goblin City's castle rose. "Toby…" She didn't have to worry as much as she did when she had been a child and Toby was 17 and capable. When she had been only 15 she had mastered the King of Goblin-City and taken back her baby brother. Surely, until she found him again, he would be fine.

"And you must be Sarah." Sarah turned quickly to where her house had once stood and where a woman with white skin and whose cloak blended with her almost flawlessly with her white clothes.

"Where is Toby?" The woman walked closer as if the cracked ground gave her no issue. It was as if she floated across the bracken and broken ground.

"Toby? So he has taken the boy already... That is no concern for you now. I am here to perform an ablation dear. You will not have to worry about Toby… I will take care of him in your absence." Sarah could tell that something about that way the woman spoke was violently wrong.

"Who are you?" The woman smiled sweetly as if Sarah was some creature to be pitied.

"I am the Queen of Moraine, Mizumi." The air suddenly felt too thick to breath and Sarah gripped her throat as if chocking. She could see Mizumi speaking, but Sarah could not hear the words, could only feel the charge of magical power behind them. Then, before the world shattered as if made of glass, everything became silent.

"I will use you Sarah… you will be the tool I use to conquer Jareth and to take his kingdom." Suddenly the light from the sun was not enough to see the woman before her and Sarah dropped down to her knees.

From his bed Toby sat up, sweat poured down his chest and his face burned.

"Sarah?" Movement at his side made him sit up faster than he probably should have. A rush of blood forced its way into his brain and he ran his fingers through his hair to massage the swelling feeling away.

"Welcome Toby, to Goblin-city." Standing tall in black clothes that shone dark blue was a man with a voice Toby knew.

"Goblin-city? Who the hell are you? Where am I?" The man sat at the end of the bed and with almost tired eyes spoke clearly and yet so vague that Toby wondered if he wasn't going crazy.

"This is the castle at the center of Labyrinth and I have chosen you as my heir. I am the Goblin-King, Jareth." The name rang in Toby's head. _He can't be serious._

"Where is Sarah?" This seemed to transform the man's mild temper to scorn, but he quickly seemed to get over it. "Hold on… You said your name is Jareth and you're the Goblin-King?" The stories his sister had once told him surged in his brain. "You're that guy Sarah used to tell me about…" It was if the once fog bound memories of his youth were pulled away and cleared in an instant. Jareth neither denied nor agreed to what Toby claimed. To be honest, Jareth was stunned that Sarah had allowed him to remain in her life that much after how she had abandoned him in Underground.

"...I must leave now, but I will be back. You have much to learn here if you are to succeed me as the Goblin-King." Toby had no chance to ask, not a chance to say what was on his mind before Jareth disappeared. As Toby's eyes scanned the room he couldn't help but think it looked more like a dressed up dungeon room. A plush bed, pillow and chairs, a book case and other things, but the walls were stone and gave off a cold chill.

The door opened again and someone came in, but it was not Jareth. They wore a distorted and ugly mask over there face and closed the door quietly behind them.

"Welcome Master Toby. I am Moppet and I have been sent to assist you today." She spoke meekly and almost too quiet to hear.

"Good, then tell me what is going on here. Why does that guy think he is going to make me a King?"


	4. Chapter 4 The Silent Room

Once before in this room, the cackles of lesser goblins once voiced their jubilee. Now it was barred from them and only one person ever walked its now empty halls and he looked on it with a mixture of loath and longing. The cool air from outside blew in after the sun had set and in the only actual chair that donned the room, sat the King of the Goblins.

"I wonder Sarah… would you return to this place once more to save your brother? And what if he takes up his place as my heir, what will you do then…?" Mulling over thoughts he really cared less about, he rolled four crystal orbs in the palm of his hand. When he got tired of sitting he began pacing the room and eyed the window where once he dreamed a princess's dream that was shattered and lay broken with the grips of a past gone awry. "I gave you all that you wished… I offered the fantasy life you had always wanted and you threw it away for a child that might yet become the next King of Goblin City and of Labyrinth." He would not say out loud; of the only thing she needed to give in order to have such a life. Was it not the dream of all women to have love, freedom and a man that would have done everything to ensure it?

In the underground that Jareth now lurked in silence, he could hear the commotion from his castle above. Though the same and connected; Underground was a part of the castle few could enter and yet was not so much a physical place as the castle itself. With a swift hand motion his hands were free of his crystal play things and he opened a side door. On the other side of the door a world he visited often before, now looked almost threatening even to him.

"This is the world you choose, Sarah." He closed the door and opened it once more, but this time his castle lay beyond its door frame.

"You're majesty; the Lady Queen of Moraine has arrived." The little goblin twiddled its stubby fingers.

"So..? Let her in." He gave the goblin a sharp command and swung his foot to kick him as he ran, but missed.

"May I ask what the Queen of Moraine wants to visit his assumed self in Labyrinth?" A moderately larger goblin stood beside Jareth. Dressed like a dirty pig, trying to look human, was rather unsightly in Jareth's eyes, but alas, Jareth had never the less made the goblin the Mayor of Goblin-City and his presence was unfortunate, but needed.

"More than likely to attend the coronation of the Heir to Labyrinth and Underground... have you been slacking Spittledrum?" Instantly the goblin began to fidget and became upfront about it.

"Of course not… She was just… I thought an unlikely guest." Jareth lowered himself to Spittledrum's eye level.

"Oh and why is that?" Spittledrum shook his knobbly head from side to side and in his brain he cursed and swore. He himself had been memorizing for months his acceptance as the next heir. How very mistaken he had been.

"Nothing, nothing at all!" With equally stubby feet as legs, he hobbled away muttered to himself to try and forge together a feast he had no idea had been needed.

"Ah Jareth." The air chilled with the arrival of one he'd have preferred to have left locked outside his realm.

"Lady of Moraine, Mizumi. You're 'children' look absolutely charming." He eyed the two girls at the queens side that bore no resemblance what-so-ever. One stood half the queen's height and triple her width. The other clutched a grey cloud of sorts in one hand and an umbrella in the other.

"It has been too long, King of the Goblins. How does my ablation go for you?" For a moment his guts wretched before settling once more; not once had his face chanced to show a change in emotion. With Mizumi it was a dangerous thing to allow.

"Do not speak so lightly of matters that concerns none other than me." His voice was sharp and without to the point.

"Umm… So where does your new little play thing roam? I wonder if he would not wish to play with my children…?" Clad in white as if from a world where only snow rested, Mizumi stepped beside Jareth and looped her arms around his.

"Go on Drumlin, Moulin. Go and play with Jareth's new heir." The two girls spoke little and left without further command from their mother.

"So… Jareth. We have time, why do we not spend a little time catching up?" He nodded, but remained silent and guided Mizumi to one of his more personal rooms. She released Jareth's arm and sat down throwing her white fur coat on a nearby chair. "So has your charge… Has he accepted your gift or has he rejected you?" In her seat the queen of Moraine changed her appearance to one Jareth would have wished to kill her for.

In the chair, in the same clothes as the queen wore, sat a mirage of Sarah.

"Is he going to leaving you behind like she did…?" Jareth for some reason could only think that Sarah looked better in the queen's clothes than Mizumi. He was sure if he said that though, Mizumi would make life more difficult.

"Enough." Mizumi took back her form and laughed.

"Ah Jareth… She is not good enough for you." She patted the seat next to her, but he ignored the gesture.

"Toby will take the throne so you need not worry about anything. Enjoy your stay." He closed the door behind him and walked some-what angrily down the hall. Anywhere that was far from that retched woman, Mizumi, and her tricks.

Still sitting, but now with a smile so broad across her beautiful face. Mizumi set her hand on the mechanical guard that stayed with her at all times.

"Oh Jareth… you should be the one to not worry. If I cannot have the Labyrinth through you, your new Paige will be my proxy and I'm sure having lost most of your command, this, will be as fun as it is easy."


	5. Chapter 5 Missing What's Missing

A day had passed in the human world since Toby had left and Sarah knew nothing of him ever having been there. She woke the next day with mild déjà vu, but other than that when she looked at the dustless spot where a box or something once stood she thought nothing of it. She thought of calling her brother, but figured he was out on his vacation with friends and wouldn't get a hold on him. His cell phone was never on unless he was using it.

.

"Sarah, your class is about to begin. You'd better go or you'll be late." She walked from her office and closed the door. She wondered if she locked her house door before she left, but wasn't concerned about it. She lived in a good neighborhood anyways and as she walked down the main hall to her class where she taught 18th century history she was forced to pause at the door.

"Can I help you?" A man outside her door turned and looked at her. The distant feeling of déjà vu settling over again like the light warmth of sun light on a picnic blanket.

"If you are attending my class I expect you not to be late." She opened the door and the man followed after her in and took a seat. "Good even class, Today we have a change of topic and I expect all of you to hand in your assignment on 18th century art and theater by the end of class. As I said, new day, new topic and I have decided to go on the French Revolution." She continued to brief her students on the main event and get some feedback from her students, but was distracted by the man that seemed to eye her wherever she walked.

"I want all of you to read pages 136 through 157 today and tomorrow. The following day after that we will have a debate about what you've read and will continue from their depending on how much the class had garnered from that. I expect good marks on your work as the class has moved along very well this term so far." She sat down at her desk and started marking pages that would be of reference to her class over the next week, but she could feel those eyes on her still and it made increasingly hard to pay attention.

Her class passed better than most days and before the class ended she looked up to see the man from before standing right in front of her desk.

"Yes?" He was silent a moment and fidgeted with the sleeve of his long shirt.

"Mrs. Williams, I seem to need some extra help on this topic. Would you mind taking an extra few moments after class to explain a few things?" She almost said right away that she needed to get home, but realized there was nothing important after class.

"Yes, I'll stay behind and assist you. I won't be staying late as I have plans later though. Will this be alright?" He nodded and returned to his desk and the bell for end of class rang.

"Alright everyone. Classes are done so please study. I don't want to have anyone who had to attend extra classes so do well." Everyone filed out of the room leaving the blonde man behind.

"I'm sorry, this must be rude of me, but I cannot recall you name…" She let the sentence hang and blinked without saying anything. She could hear his breathing, a low steady sound in contrasted to the heavy thud of her own.

"Jared. Just Jared." He smiled as he fingered through her copy of the history book.

"Ah, Jared, so sorry. Ok, so what so far is it that you find complicated?" She looked up and again without a sound he stood right before her. "Jared?" She stepped back on step and thankfully he remained. He leaned over and looked down at her book and pointed out a specific subject.

"I'm confused about why a complete monarchy was changed to feudalism. I don't' seem to understand the bases for it…" He looked up at her with his head below hers and she closed the book.

"I see. Well first let me explain the more detailed differences and see from there was is a miss."

"Thank you Mrs. Williams."

Across worlds and dreams that floated on clouds Toby looked up at a rising sun.

"I know I have not given you much time, but I wonder if you have come to a decision yet about my offer." Jareth sat on a well cushioned chair and admired mistily the red-haired boy before him. He seemed to different and yet so very similar to Sarah that it make it some what awkward to speak with the boy.

"I'm young and don't' known much… this place is so… weird. A goblin King, a city of Goblins… the only place in my world where a King or Queen has any say is England… I'm excited and yet… put off by the thought." This was why he had chosen Toby as heir. He would make a decision based on that he felt, but also on what he thought was correct.

"I see. You need more time…" Mildly irate with the slow moving though of a child's mind Toby turned around and eyed Jareth with interest.  
"I didn't say that. I only said I don't' feel ready and doubt I ever would be at any given time to accept a thrown over goblins in such a place, but I am willing to try. I accept your offer." Behind a faced of emotionless rapture Jareth teemed with pure ecstasy.

"Marvelous. Welcome home then to Goblin-City Prince-ling." Jareth flicked a hand and a crystal orb rolled down from no where into his hands. He gazed at it a moment before tossing it to Toby.

"It's a gift. Keep it." Toby smiled and rolled the ball in his hands. "Your coronation will be this evening, but I am afraid I have things I must attend to afterwards that you have requested if you took to becoming my heir. You will forgive my absence until I return. You will be busy with your lessons so I doubt I will be much missed."

"You gonna be the one to speak with Sarah? Is that the best idea?" Jareth walked over and stood before Toby. He was a good few inches taller than the red-haired prince.

"Do you think she would listen to any of my subjects?" Toby seen his point.

"Fine… Just make sure you don't do any thing to upset her more than I think she'll be already… Honestly, just be nice. I don't know what you guys went threw, but I know enough when I see lies. You haven't been honest through and through. Treat my sister well or I will abdicated faster than you can blink."

"Fair enough." Jareth left the room, a grin plastered to his face. The boy was more like the Goblin King then he dared explain. It was Jareth that had once said to a timid and fearful Sarah that he would turn her life upside down and in much the same words that Toby had just used.

"I have come to greet the young prince-ling. He is well for visitors is he not?" Mizumi stood at the halls end with her mechanical guard. As he passed he hissed the queen of Moraine in her white dress.

"We will see just how close you get to taking my kingdom…"

"It will not be only your the kingdom I take with me… I recall you offered your self also of the price of my ablation." She stepped behind him and wrapped a cold hand around his waist, her other hand on the side of his face. "I will enjoy seeing you at my side… at my feet." She released him and he walked away in silence. She laughed lightly at the matter and knocked at the door Jareth had just come.

"Prince Toby. I am Mizumi, Queen of Moraine. I have come to speak with you of matter pertaining to your education." The door opened and a smile crossed her elegant lips. She instantly seen the resemblance that both Jareth and the boy shared right down to the arrogant why he stood.

"Queen? I beg your pardon if I am rude in you presence." The child was much kinder and thus more naïve.

"Fear not much matters. I will be staying in Labyrinth to assist you in your studies." She unfurled long fingers and a in her palm a shower to sparkles shot up and rained down lightly. "I will be teaching you magics like no other can." And with star spackled eyes she knew she would have no problem molding this boy to her every whim.


	6. Chapter 6 You Have No Power Over Me

A day had passed in the human world since Toby had left and Sarah knew nothing of him ever having been there. She woke the next day with mild déjà vu, but other than that when she looked at the dustless spot where a box or something once stood, she thought nothing of it. She considered calling her brother, but figured he was out on his vacation with friends and wouldn't get a hold on him. His cell phone was never on unless he was using it.

"Sarah, your class is about to begin. You'd better go or you'll be late." She walked from her office and closed the door behind her. She wondered if she locked her house door before she left, but wasn't concerned about it. She lived in a good neighbourhood any ways, but the idea of someone being in her house kept eating away at her mind and as she walked down the main hall to her class where she taught 18th century history, she stopped short of the door with another wave of déjà vu.

"Can I help you?" A man outside her door turned and looked at her. The distant feeling of déjà vu settling over again like the light warmth of sun light, but the man wasn't really a man at all. He was somewhere in between and neither all at the same moment.

"If you are attending my class I expect you not to be late." She opened the door and the student followed after her and took a seat. "Good evening class, Today we have a change of topic and I expect all of you to hand in your assignment on 18th century art and theater by the end of class. As I said, new day, new topic and I have decided to go on the French Revolution." She continued to brief her students on the main events and get some feedback from her students, but was distracted by the student that seemed to eye her wherever she walked.

"I want all of you to read pages 136 through 157 today and tomorrow. The following day after that we will have a debate about what you've read and will continue from their depending on how much the class had garnered from that. I expect good marks on your work as the class has moved along very well this term." She sat down at her desk and started marking pages that would be of reference to her class over the next week, but she could feel those eyes on her still and refused to acknowledge them with some much of a glance.

Her class passed quicker than most days and just before the class ended she looked up to announce class finished; the man was right in front of her desk.

"Yes?" He was silent a moment.

"Mrs. Williams, I seem to need some extra help on this topic. Would you mind taking a moment after class to explain a few things?" She almost said right away that she needed to get home, but realized there was nothing important after class.

"Yes, I'll stay behind and assist you. I won't be staying late as I have plans later though. Will this be alright?" He nodded and returned to his desk and the bell for end of class rang.

"Alright every one. Classes are done so please study. I don't want to have anyone who has to attend extra classes so do well." Every one filed out of the room leaving the blonde student behind.

"I'm sorry, this must be rude of me, but I cannot recall you name…" She let the sentence hang and blinked without saying anything. She could hear his breathing, a low steady sound in contrasted to the heavy thud of her own. This boy made her feel awkward and on edge.

"Jared. Jared Golen." He smiled as he fingered through her book, eyes downcast and violently blue in color.

"Ah, Jared, so sorry. Ok, so what so far is it that you find complicated?" She looked up and again without a sound he stood right before her. "Jared?" She stepped back and thankfully he remained. He leaned over and looked down at her book and pointed out a specific subject.

"I'm confused about why a complete monarchy was changed to feudalism. I don't seem to understand the bases for it…" He looked up at her with his head below hers and she closed the book.

"I see. Well first let me explain the more detailed differences and see from there was is amiss."

"Thank you Mrs. Williams."

.

.

.

Across worlds and dreams that floated on clouds Toby looked up at a rising sun.

"I know I have not given you much time, but I wonder if you have come to a decision yet about my offer." Jareth sat on a well cushioned chair and admired mistily the red-haired boy before him. He seemed so different and yet so very similar to Sarah that it make it somewhat awkward to speak with the boy.

"I'm young and don't' know much… this place is so… weird. A goblin King, a city of Goblins… the only place in my world where a King or Queen has any say is England… I'm excited and yet… put off by the thought." This was why he had chosen Toby as heir. He would make a decision based on that he felt, but also on what he thought was correct and they boy had a streak for doing the right thing.

"I see. You need more time…" Mildly irate with the slow moving though of a child's mind all the same Jareth received a glance of interest from Sarah's baby brother.

"I didn't say that. I only said I don't feel ready and doubt I ever would be at any given time to accept a thrown over goblins in such a place, but I am willing to try. I accept your offer." Behind a faced of emotionless rapture Jareth teemed with pure ecstasy. A child born of the modern world had just stepped head long into a world that was completely different and with gusto. The human race was a thing of wonder for sure and in Jareth's head he ticked off yet another item cleared from a long list of things needing fulfillment.

"Marvellous. Welcome home then to Goblin-City Prince-ling." Jareth flicked a hand and a crystal orb rolled down from nowhere into his hands. He gazed at it a moment before tossing it to Toby.

"It's a gift. Keep it." Toby smiled and rolled the ball in his hands. "Your coronation will be this evening, but I am afraid I have things I must attend to afterwards that you will required if you look to become my heir. You will forgive my absence until I return. You will be busy with your lessons so I doubt I will be much missed."

"You gonna be the one to speak with Sarah? Is that the best idea?" Jareth walked over and stood before Toby. He was a good few inches taller than the red-haired prince, but that the boy had a nature and well founded sense of intention and it was noted with little worry.

"Do you think she would listen to any of my subjects?" Toby seen his point and the mature and knowing look faded from his face.

"Fine… Just make sure you don't do anything to upset her more than I think she'll be already… Honestly, just be nice. I don't know what you guys went through, but I know enough when I see lies. You haven't been honest through and through. Treat my sister well or I will abdicate faster than you can blink."

"Fair enough." Jareth left the room, a grin plastered to his face. The boy was more like the Goblin King then he dared explain. It was Jareth that had once said to a timid and fearful Sarah that he would turn her life upside down and in much the same words that Toby had just used.

"I have come to greet the young prince-ling. He is well for visitors is he not?" Mizumi stood at the halls end with her mechanical guard. As he passed he missed the Queen of Moraine in her white dress.

"We will see just how close you get to taking my kingdom…"

"It will not be only you're the kingdom I take with me… I recall you offered yourself also for the price of my ablation." She stepped behind him and wrapped a cold hand around his waist, her other hand on the side of his face. "I will enjoy seeing you at my side… at my feet." She released him and he walked away in silence. She laughed lightly at the matter and knocked at the door Jareth had just come.

"Prince Toby. I am Mizumi, Queen of Moraine. I have come to speak with you on matter pertaining to your education." The door opened and a smile crossed her elegant lips. She instantly seen the resemblance that both Jareth and the boy shared right down to the arrogant why he stood. The Goblin King was infectious it seemed and she would have to part them quickly if she was to over throw them both.

"Queen? I beg your pardon… if I am rude in your presence." The child was much kinder and thus more naïve to her surprise.

"Fear not much matters. I will be staying in Labyrinth to assist you in your studies." She unfurled long fingers and in her palm a shower to sparkles shot up and rained down lightly. "I will be teaching you magics like no other can." And with star spackled eyes she knew she would have no problem melding this boy to her every whim. She would make the boy give up the thrown to her. She would make them all beg.


	7. Chapter 7 What Was Forgotten

The sky blazed bright orange as the sun set once more. Sarah sat at her front window on the love seat and stared. She wondered if she was perhaps losing her mind. She did not recall every having a student in her class like Jared, she was sure she would have remembered a face like his. But she did not and it bothered her to know end and pulled up the edges of the blanket to cover her shoulders.

.

.

"So that is what it was like…" Jared gazed at the painted map inside his text book and traced a long finger along the page. "Thank you Miss Williams, you have been most helpful."

"That is what I get paid to do. I expect you to do well in this class and should you have any more issues, please come and see me. I will do what I can to help."

.

.

She had returned to her house bringing her mail in with her. The house seemed to be quieter than she felt it should be and turned on the TV for background noise, but this didn't change the air. She glanced around her living room feeling as if something was wrong. She looked at the books on her shelves and the little figurines she kept. On the top shelf she saw tucked behind some other objects of her affections, a box. She pulled it down from the shelf almost tripping on her own feet and looked at the red wood that shone with warmth. The wood was worn from being handled often and the hinges were stiff, but not rusted.

With her palm face down on the top of the box she lifted the lid and a sad melody echoed throughout her house. For a minute the walls seemed beyond clear sight and the waiver and shifted; as if in tune to some oncoming darkness the doorbell rang. She dropped the box and for some reason she was unable to pick it up again and stop the song before going to the door. She didn't check who might be on the other side of the door and did not need to unlock the door.

The door swung open and her student stood before her, but he was dressed most unusually.

"Hello Sarah." He didn't sound like the student she had just tutored and this dark aura seemed to hover over him like a storm threatening to unleash it's destruction on the surface of the planet.

"Jared…?" The man stared at her as if the world had flipped upside down and the color had all but drained from her face.

"No Sarah. I am not Jared." From his side of the door the Jareth could not see that she held the doorknob so tightly she might have ripped it from off.

"I'm sorry; you must have the wrong house." She wanted to close the door, but she was unable to make the necessary movement to do so. She was mesmerized with his unwavering gaze.

"Sarah…? I have Toby with me. Surely you want to speak with me now?" He stepped forward and cold gripped her, there was no wind to tease her with and the chill then embedded its self in her bones where it cemented.

"Toby? He's at school in a whole other city. I'm sorry he's not here for his vacation… please leave." Jareth was confused to a point that he was frustrated. The old feelings to vex the girl… no, she was no longer a girl. She was a woman now. She stood taller and more elegant that before; no longer holding on to the awkward stance of a teen age human.

"I'm afraid he is not on such a vacation. Will you not admit me in?" He was almost on top of her he was so close. She would feel warmth from his body and a smell that tantalized her mind with something lost and forgotten; forbidden even.

"You must leave. I have no idea who you are and if you speak of Toby then you must be his friend, but not mine. If you have something to say to him then say it to him. I am no messenger." She stepped away into the safety of her house, but it was as if her house could not protect her. He invaded her house without crossing her threshold at all.

"You do not know me, Sarah?" His tone was dark and treacherous. She feared him and in some small place inside her she wanted to rebel. Kick him, scream, punch and throw whatever she had at him.

"No, now leave. You can stand at my door and try as you might to belittle me; you have no power over me. This is not your home and I will not allow you to threaten me further." He stepped back as if stung and his fist clenched. She thought he was rearing to punch her and she slammed the door shut to prevent it.

She backed away into her living room with her heart just pounding and it seemed normal, like nothing had been wrong with it. The music box still played and with rage she picked it up and lobbed it across the room where it hit the furthest wall and shattered. The song stopped playing and it was if the world had stopped. No other sound seemed to make noise in her house and she regretted destroying the box. She hated the silence more than the sad song that sung eerily from the red wood music box and with a sudden ache that settled behind her eyes she realized she didn't know where she had gotten such a box.


	8. Chapter 8 Underground

The castle above was loud with the rush of events, but in Underground below the castle the Goblin King paced like a caged animal. The world that he controlled, the world what remained on the surface was ever changing, time flowed in and out unlawful and sometimes cruel, but in Underground even time had a master and he was most displeased. In his mind the harsh words Sarah spoke from a place she claimed forgotten spilled over on the shores of rage that now ebbed deeply to spite him. The woman he had asked to love him, fear him and all her dreams, all of her desires would be hers. And for the sake of a child she had spurned them and him.

"So something as simple as time is all that it takes to forget me…? Oh Sarah…" In his hand a single crystal orb rolled along his paw. One of the few faculties left to him after losing much of his power. Not only had he himself suffered from Sarah, but his Kingdom had begun to fail. He sold himself to a witch-queen to revive it and even though his kingdom now prospered it was still at great risk. Much was weighing on the boy above that would be King… so long as he accepted it. "What if those memories forgotten…" The single orb split into two. "Come spilling over you and wash away what was forgotten and uncover what has always been?" The second orb split and now three crystals turned and twisting in his hand.

Nothing changed; in this room which goblins had cheered with jubilee with their king's new toy. A child while fire for hair and a demon for a sister. There he had given the child joys no other would ever have; two plots had been woven for the preceding thirteen hours of that time. Both were snuffed out as soon as Sarah had grasped her hands around the baby and she had used it. It was true then, while she roamed my lands and was set back endless times; I had the power over her. Then the child… she reclaimed him and in the empty room where Toby once laughed and where Jareth now stood musing about the doors just beyond. Where in the inner most keeps of Underground time moved slow and not at all and his whim, she had taken the power he had given her and distorted them.

With a single gesture Jareth took the first orb and thrust it out the window where it reflected light once and disappeared. It was followed closely by the second and third orb.

"What will you do Sarah?"

.

.

Toby sat in his room that was beginning to become over crowded. Goblin's walked this way and that and all the while Mizumi, Queen of Moraine sat with fingers interlaced together.

"So you'll actually be teaching me magic? Can someone like me learn magic though? I mean… I've never done anything like this and humans can't actually use it…" Toby was twisted and prodded while he was measured for tailoring of his formal clothes; to have his coronation so soon was… intimidating at the least.

"Oh yes, I'm sure you will be fine. I have watched you and while you might not see it, you do use it already. Magically I believe you have great potential so try not to worry. Those things will be coming later, for now you have only to worry about being stuck with a needle. At Toby's side the Mayor of Labyrinth pulled at color materials and set them against Toby's skin.

"I'm not worrying. I think they'll do a fine job. Thank you all." He looked down the snubbed hands and gangly limbs of the goblins assisting him. His smile seemed to gain a lot of trust with them and they worked less stiffly. Even Spittledrum who was rather distraught with Jareth's announcement eased in his own leathery skin.

"Ah well then, well then. Where is the young chap to be in my care?" Toby cranked in his chair and in the door stood a small dog or perhaps a fox like creature. Toby was unsure if it was a goblin; it wasn't nearly as 'ugly' as the others were.

"Good evening Sir Didymus, how does thy young steed bare?" Mizumi greeted the creature and Toby stared with his mouth gapping.

"Did you say Sir Didymus?" Didymus was one of the creatures from Sarah's stories… He wondered now if all the other's she had spoken off were also real.

"That I did and you must be the boy that would be king." Mizumi darkened mildly and stood from her seat.

"Yes, well. I must be off and tend to my children. You will excuse me won't my Prince Toby?" She waited and Toby stuttered a moment and nodded rather furiously.

"Ah, Yes. Of course." A grin pulled across her face and she left the room without another word.

"Well yes, Greetings young prince. I am Sir Didymus and I will be your physical education's teacher. I will work you into shape and together, we will make you the future king of Labyrinth." The goblin was rather energetic and had emotions much stronger than the others which Toby thought perhaps that he was just odd.

"Thank you. I look forward to your lesson good Sir. I also have a question for you, might I ask?"

"Ah, well yes! Ask!" Toby was stuck with a pin slightly and jumped.

"That's alright, please continue." He looked back at Didymus while the other Goblins now gawked at him. Was he not acting in the right kind of way? "Anyways, I must ask, do you know my sister? Sarah? She was here a long time ago and spoke once of someone with your name. Could you be the same person?"

The room fell silent and Toby couldn't think of what he might have done wrong.

"Yes, but if you must speak of 'her', please do so during lessons. It is a… sensitive topic even years later after the incident." He hadn't realized just exactly had happened in the years before. Had Sarah's coming here and taking him back caused so much trouble? If so, why then did Jareth just not come back and take Toby without bringing Sarah?

That was when his question sounded wrong. If Toby had been the objective why did Jareth bring Sarah? Why then, when Sarah took him back did Jareth not return? Sarah couldn't possibly come to this place on her own, right? Toby grew silent with his goblin helpers.

"I'm sorry. I must beg forgiveness for having been rude. Please continue as you were before." He spoke nicely enough, but the happy conversations that had been tossed around the room before died. Toby would have done anything then to return the room to the way it had been before and in his head a song popped into his mind. Dragged in to the room from happy times he remembered by another's words.

"You remind me of the babe, babe of the power…"

An old goblin stood up as if stung and holding herself up with a stick she walked up close to Toby and nudged another goblin in the side.

"Power of Voodoo"

"Who do?"

"You do." Toby laughed and lowered himself to the old goblins eye level.

"Say what?" The goblin smiled with broken teeth and matted hair.

Toby paused a moment and remembering Sarah alone in his house he finished the words in his head.

"Remind me of the babe."


	9. Chapter 9 Nothing Is Safe

Hard wood floors, painted walls, everything in her house looked like it should and yet in the back of Sarah's mind something nagged at her and begged her take another look. Love seat, kitchen table, pictures, books and on the floor remained the shattered pieces of the music box. She had been unable to pick it up since she had broken it. Since the hour or so before when she called work saying she would not be coming in, she had passed every door in her house to try and find what was amiss and even after the 4th run she was unable to find anything but what belonged.

Exhausted, Sarah walked into her kitchen and grabbed a pop, her finger tucked under the tab and a hiss bellowed out and a small mist wet the side of her hand. She brought the pop to her lips and drank the cold liquid down. After taking another sip she allowed the tense sigh out and dropped down on her couch.

"What the hell is wrong with you Sarah?" She thought it was just fantastic that she was talking to herself. "Just let it go…" She brought the drink to her face again when a sound grated along the floor in the hallway upstairs. It sounded as if something was being dragged along and she instantly sat u, the fear she had found so odd pulled her limbs into action. Her feet carrying her against her minds scream to walk away, run and do anything but follow that mind penetrating sound. As she rounded the bottom of her stairs the sound reached the same point, but at the top.

"Who's there?" She felt stupid asking that question, but she couldn't help it. It was natural instinct and she hoped the sound was just as natural. At the top of the stairs she caught something rolling and then it hit the stairs. It was silent again when it bounced down and with a cracking sound rolled from the top stair towards her. Feeling sure that whatever it was, was not going to hurt her any she took the next two steps herself and ended up meeting the item half way.

"What is this?" She bent down and in her hands picked up the small glass ball. It was cold in her hands as she tossed it into the other hand and continued up the stairs.

Before long she had checked each room again and found exactly what she had before; nothing.

"…" She rotated on a socked heel to peer behind her, but no one was there and the ball in her hand was same as before; she finally grew tired of being insane and she walked down the hall to return down stairs where the pop she had left behind grew warm. As she set her right foot down it hit something that was not the stair, but it was too late to try and steady herself and with one hand gripping the glass ball and no railing to grip she fell forward and toppled head over heels.

She had only enough time to gasp as her top half became air-born and then fell like a stone, her elbow smashed down on one of the steps and slipped, scrapping her skin against the ground. This made her head buckle and catch the next stair, the blow was enough to break skin as the sound of her feet cracked the other stairs the rest of the way down. When she slowed to a stop she had enough strength to curl into herself, her hands cradling her head in pain. She couldn't tell if anything was broken, but after laying on the ground for almost 30 minutes she coaxed her body to sit up and rest her back against the nearest wall.

"Jesus Christ…" She touched her head were it pulsed and throbbed and knew without looking at her hand that it was bleeding. "Dammit." She looked at the other parts that hurt and touched them tenderly at first then harder. Nothing hurt too bad to say it was broken, but she was no doctor. She swore again and forced herself to her feet and to grab the coat and purse at the door. She knew she shouldn't drive and to just take a taxi, but she couldn't think far enough to remember the taxi number so she just pulled on the door handle and stepped out.

"Miss Williams." She looked up and the man from before stood before her. Her bones released a bit of the chill they had been holding onto since last meeting and she shivered.

"Jar…" The name eluded her memory like light in a heavy fog, so close and yet she couldn't make it out.

"Jared." She looked closer that the man and was startled… they looked so similar, but this man did not have the aura that could blot out the sun. This was her student.

"You're injured." He walked forward and she stepped back. "Your head is bleeding." She almost told him to stay away, but she had no reason to. He seemed genuinely worried so she allowed him to come closer. Not once did he touch her though he looked with his hands at his side and palled slightly at the sight of the blood. He looked like he was going to be sick.

.

"Are you alright?"

.

"I think I will be thank you." Toby was getting the worse upset stomach ache that he could ever recall. He'd never had enough alcohol to have ever had him sick or anything like it, but today it felt like he was going to through up every organ in his body. "I just can't believe all this is happening… this place, this world and everyone in it… it's just too much." With unsteady fingers Toby pulled at the buttons that brought his shirt together in the front. He was not used to wearing such a high collar around his neck and it served to only make his claustrophobia to set in.

"I need a moment with the Prince." From the end of the hall Jareth stood with a certain smugness about him which Mizumi did not care for.

"You look lively today, what makes you so happy other than your Prince's coronation?" In pale blue the Queen of Moraine stood high and in full stance. She was a woman that could not be trusted with any information and even without a place to mould people to her will she would simply make one.

"More than you will ever know." Refusing to be baited by a slack king doomed to lose his realm she pasted him as if nothing fazed her and in reality it really didn't.

"Bide your time Goblin King. Time is running short don't you think?" Not allowing her to ruin his good mood he stepped in line with Toby and smiled for the first time since his arrival.

"Did you speak with Sarah?" Toby didn't look at Jareth and Jareth couldn't blame him and despite being the man he was, he allowed the small grin to pull his face while the boy looked forward.

"Yes, oddly enough she said she didn't know me. Interesting no?" Toby was startled and looked up finally and admitted something to Jareth that he would never had said to his sister no matter how many years passed.

"She would never have forgotten you or anything that happened in this place." Something in Toby began to hurt, the instincts about his sister had always been right if ever she should deny them.

"After coming back with me she would tell me stories… Wait. This is not the place." The very walls seemed to have ears and considering the place he assumed they actually did. This change took Jareth with extreme interest.

"I will speak with you were no ears play silent. Is my room such a place?" Toby was more than smart enough for the roll Jareth was setting him up for and if Jareth lied now, it would surely, some way or another set everything he had planned for to ruin.

"No, not so much as I'm sure you'd wish. Come with me." As much as he would have ignored Toby with talk of his sister, but he couldn't lie that he was curious in many ways. He would not spurn good luck when it nearly slapped him in the face.


	10. Chapter 10 The Girl That Grew Up

In yet another room Toby had not seen before, Jareth closed the door and told the goblins outside the door that for no reason was any one to disturb them. Jareth turned to Toby, but said nothing at all leaving Toby to swallow the lump in his throat. He could see no better way than to just jump in.

"Sarah told me stories when I was younger. Things that I took for her fantasy reaching out like it always had, but over the years I look back and I remember how slowly her words changed and became… almost heavy… Sarah used to be pressured by my mother and her dad to give up her toys and other things like that, but one day without anyone having said anything at all to her, she went to her room and for the whole night she spent her time tossing her things away into garbage bags. I remember asking her for a few of her toys that I assumed she just didn't want and she just said 'no'. Not angry or anything, just no. But it didn't stop there, some months later I came to her room without her permission and most her books were gone and the posters she had of her mother, her real mother, were even gone. I asked her a lot to tell me stories and I liked the ones of this place cause they seemed so real, not having known they were and she'd even been here. She told me about you, the King of the Goblins in such a vivid way that I almost felt I knew you. I could picture you in my mind years later when I thought about her and she was so good at it my image of you wasn't that far off. Then there was Hoggle, Didymus, Ludo… he was my favorite. The only thing she never told me about was the dream she had while in a bubble. That was what she called it. The dream that was so real, that it couldn't be real. That was what she said it was like." When Toby looked at Jareth he could see he'd hit something big. "I'm telling you, she'd never forget. Not ever. She might lie, hell she might even scream and call the cops, but she'd never, never forget. It's been burned into her mind, that time she spent here."

Music played in his mind, of all the things he'd recall and look back on 'that' was the one thing he refused to think on; when her dreams had came true. She was meant to fall then. Fall from grace and lose the bet, fall into the dream he'd woven just for her and finally fall…

"It that all?" Toby was taken aback and nodded without thinking. "Then the last preparations will be settled soon and I must attend to other things. Excuse me." Jareth opened the doors and Toby stepped out.

"I want you to tell me one day. Everything that happened in that time outside of time. That is the only condition I will apply to accepting today." Jareth almost cursed and could only answer with a nod of his own. The door closed and the room was soundless, but lusciously dressed as most others were bare.

"If I stand so vivid a memory in her mind then why feint ignorance? Are you just running away Sarah?" He pushed the thought from his head, he had too much to do today to make sure nothing stood in his way and ruin it. Mizumi played the sweet part, but he knew differently. She would more than likely try whatever it was she had planned to lay well thought plans to shame and he refused to give her one more thing to boast on, but to quench the thirst and see how things were turning outside Labyrinth he pulled an orb from air. Miss matched eyes looking at shifting colors of fog while another world, her world, focused.

.

In its crystal depths Sarah formed from mist and fog. She stood speaking with someone and blood was smudged on her face. She had an expression he knew well on her face and wondered whom she was speaking with, but the crystal's did not work that way. Not so long as his faculties continued to lay in the spoiled mess they were in.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was shaky and her hands trembled slightly.

"I came to see you for more help." Jared stood leaning over and gave her room to breath after she stepped forward towards her car.

"I will have to do so later. I have to go to the clinic to get this looked after." Wiping the blood from her fingers on her pant leg she unlocked her car and sat down.

"You don't look like you're gonna make it that far. You look shaken." Jared was so unlike that other man that it was like an inverted mirror of sorts.

"Your right. This is gonna sound odd, but will you drive me, I'll make it up to you." For a moment Jared stood still and his face looked very confused.

"I can't."

"That's ok, you must have better things to do, un?" She pulled the seat belt across her waist and clicked it into place.

"That's not it Miss Williams. I don't… know how." She looked at him musing how an adult of what looked like 22 or so didn't know how to drive. Not having a license was one thing, but not know how at all was odd.

"I see. Would you like to come at least? I hate doctors and the company would be nice or I can drop you off by your home seeing as you came this way." She seemed completely fine and had already forgotten the little toys Jareth had sent for her. But aside from playing small tricks her gifts had surprises still in store.

"Yes, please. I'd like that Miss Williams." She turned the car engine over a few times before it started and smiled as she pulled out of her drive way.

"Sarah. Outside of class you can call me that. I'll let it slide for you, ok?" She pulled her hand up to adjust the mirror.

"Thank you Sarah." Her hand tightened around the mirror so much that she pulled it from the windshield. "Are you alright?" She stared out of the window straight ahead.  
"Say my name once more." It was like the fog in her mind had clear and swallowed her once again.

"Sarah." Again it cleared, but just as fast was bound in mystery in her head.

"Just who are you exactly?"


	11. Chapter 11 Future Goblin King

The car sat idly at the end of the driveway while Sarah looked at Jared. The look of confusion on his face startled her.

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" Jared looked through the window at the tree in her front yard. He seemed very interested in it.

"That's not it. To be honest, I have no idea who I am or even where I am. Woke up one day in the middle of nowhere with no memories. I did manage to find myself at the school staring in your class room. It was like I had… found something profoundly important and yet… It didn't hit me until you came and spoke to me." Sarah was torn between pity beyond anything she'd felt for another human being and then terror for being in a car with such a man.

"So you don't remember anything, un? Where have you been staying all this time? How did you know where I lived?" She hadn't realized that he had randomly showed up to her house and due to her injury she just accepted it.

"I don't know that. I just knew where you lived… I even knew you'd be home, but I don't know why… I know things about you I think that… you don't even know… Something is wrong with me." In one moment pity had over ruled her sense of self preservation. She truly felt for the man with no memory. "I don't know why there are things in your house you'd rather forget… why there are memories of your own that you'd wish forgotten and why you have such an attachment with you brother, Toby."

The world tilted on its axis as he spoke and Sarah reeled in a maelstrom of emotions she had no place for.

"What are you saying?" His image in her mind twisted and grew distorted and as if in slow motion he turned to look at her; his face was no longer what it had been before.

"Sarah?"

"Jar…Jar…" She couldn't finish the name at the tip of her conscious mind.

"Are you alright?" She tightened her grip and then rested her head on the steering wheel. She wanted to speak, but the words were stuck in her mouth like feathers on tar, unable to move.

"You can't drive like this. You should go back inside your house and rest. I'll come back if it's not too much for you." He reached over and turned the car off, but she did not move. "Sarah?"

"Stop it!" He jolted away from her and he saw she was breathing heavy and sweating. "Stop saying my name like that! Just stop it…" She faced him angrily, but the look on his face shocked her to regain her composure. "I-I'm sorry… I just can't think right now… You have nowhere to stay right?" She waited, but he remained silent. "Then you can stay at my house. I have empty rooms upstairs you can stay in for now." She didn't know why, but she felt like when he left she was missing something. When he was next to her she was able to think better and the fog that bound her mind seemed to lessen and clear.

The span of an eternity passed between them and the void between worlds could have bridged if she waited any longer and she grew afraid of that calm. She was also scaring herself silly. She would never have allowed a stranger that made her this uncomfortable to enter her home let alone stay the night. She was losing grip on herself and was witnessing it, unchallenged first hand.

"Is that really alright?" She wasn't sure if she was crazy or just stupid at this point.

.

In the crystalline depths Jareth looked in on the conversation she was having so openly with someone she obviously didn't know.

"So trusting… So very like you once were." He wore no smile. Actually he was rather frustrated and irritated that even the help of his minions bothered him and he sent them all away.

"Everyone needed is now here my King." From the outside of the door some goblin informed Jareth that almost everything was in place and waited solely now on him. He tightened the clothes around his neck and straightened his over coat. He wore dark blue embroidered with grey and white under shirt which had frills that stuck out in front of him… He sometimes hated these elaborate clothes that constricted his movements.

"Begin. I will attend shortly." Staring into the mirror that was misshapen but not distorted he wondered if any of this was worth it then smothered down that thought. He tucked in the last inch of his shirt and left the room. From the ceremonial hall in the furthest wing of the castle music played and voices enjoying their stay could be heard.

"I can't do this! I can't go out there! Look at all those people; I am far from ready to do this. I need to speak with Jareth." Toby seemed to be having difficulties adhering to the new rules that governed this world and that where so different from his own.

"Toby." The boy turned around as if stunned.

"Jareth… I need more time. I can't do this. This is too much for a guy like me." Jareth waved his hand and sent the goblins away.

"Do I look like I manage this place well?" Toby thought he might have insulted the king and was in trouble.

"Ah, well yes." Such a mild mannered boy…

"I wasn't when I started and I have gone through much to attain what you see before you. The very mentors that will teach you are much like the ones I often ran from. They will teach you well, but if you think you cannot take on this role then I ask you this. Accept the coronation today and should you find after teachings and much lessons that it is still beyond you then I will allow you to abdicate. This would also give me time to find another should one be available."

Toby was out of words and a way out. The Goblin King had given so much and even now offered his hand and experience to help him and felt stupid for acting to rashly without even trying.

"I can't say I will be good at this, but I will try. That is all I can offer you for your kindness… and did you really speak with Sarah? You weren't lying were you?" Toby looked straight into Jareth's face and as much as Jareth feared the boy with no power might see things he'd not wish him to, he looked back at him. Jareth could clearly see the grand makings of the boy that would be future king of Goblin City and of Labyrinth… one day he might even wander the deep of Underground. Even the boy's words deserved answer of some kind, but Jareth was not so eloquent to say such simple words.

"That is all I ask… and yes, I have spoken with Sarah personally."

"Something's not right…" Toby looked down into his hand; it was empty, but with such attention one might have believed otherwise. "Would I be able to go see her myself, after all of this?" Jareth shook his head and an announcement called for Jareth.

"I will do what I can." That was all he said and stepped out to greet the greater populace of his kingdom and other high members of others. In the crowd he could see Mizumi and her daughters and behind them moving as if a shadow the girl Moppet. This is what set Jareth's mind to do everything that was required of him.

"Good evening, I thank you all for coming today to Labyrinth. I have great news for the people. I would like to announce that as of today I have named an heir to Labyrinth and all I hold claim to. Please meet him well and enjoy the celebration today at Toby Williams Coronation as Prince of Labyrinth." His voice boomed over the entire room and shout, hoots and hollers called back to him in joy. As Toby stepped out next to Jareth the room grew quiet and Toby lifted his head to the goblins and creatures of his new world.

"Good evening People of Labyrinth and of the other countries neighbouring it. I greet you all well today at my coronation and would like to thank you all together for your support. Also to my benefactor The King of the Goblins, Jareth. Please enjoy yourself today and throughout the evening while music and dance take us to a new beginning together." Toby was so nervous speaking and forced himself to not look at a single person in the crowd to avoid stuttering and anxiety. When he finished the crowd shouted even louder than they had for Jareth and he felt a hand wrap around his shoulders.

"Well said." And then in a louder voice. "Let the celebration begin on this day of Toby's coronation!" The crowd began to disperse and Jareth left Toby be carried into the mass of people; every one of them vying to even just touch his hand.

"And now to begin my little party."


	12. Chapter 12 The King Forsakes His Hall

Odd-shaped men and women dressed in masquerade danced across the tiled floor. Goblins played musical instruments never seen in the human world. The few that Jareth new by name and face were either seated at tables or eating food fit for a king… or his heir. Mizumi sat beside her two daughters who were dressed as elegantly as their mother, but Toby's attention was drawn to the goblin behind them almost lurking in shadows. He had been tired and drained from meeting and speaking with ambassadors from other realms and from creatures that just simply didn't speak the same language as him so when he passed by others that wished to speak with him and simply told them he was vying for a dance.

"Moppet. I'd like to ask you for a dance." The girl jumped from surprise and turned so fast she almost knocked him down.

"Wha-huh?" He had frightened her more than he'd though and she seemed rather nervous.

"I'd like to have a dance with you. Is this alright?" She nodded so fast that he doubted she actually realized what he had said, but he took her hand anyways and took her with him into the masses of dancing creatures.

Lacking the natural confidence he assumed someone in line for King should have, he offered his hand and just as anxiously as he was, she set her hand in his.

"I don't know how to dance." She admitted and forced smile gave him courage and he leaned in.

"That's fine… I have no idea either." And before she could reply he wove her in large circles around the dance floor mimicking people around them as best they could. She eased up and was no longer as stiff as she had been before and as the dancing became easier Toby began to laugh.

"Are you laughing at me?" He could not see her face as she still wore a mask, but this one was different from the one she normally wore.

"No, not at all, I'm just having fun. Aren't you having fun?" Her hands tightened in his and she stuttered nonsense for a second or two.

"No, I mean yes. I am having fun." And for the first time without restrictions she allowed him to lead her in whatever direction Toby pleased and the crowd around them thinned to allow them to spin the floor into whatever kind of dance it was they danced while others tried to learn from their steps.

"Where did you learn this kind of dance?" Toby's smile grew larger and he let Moppet in on his secret.

"I made it up." And he pulled her in to a spin hearing the song was ending and then spiralled her into him and dipped as best he could. He wouldn't tell her that he almost dropped her and everyone in the room burst into cheers that could deafen.

Both Moppet and Toby laughed lightly and left for everyone else to cut up the floor while behind the entrance hall half hidden Jareth watched in only half hidden anger. He would not allow this to continue much longer, but he would have to deal with 'her' when he came back. Toby was officially his heir and now Prince and would learn best in the time Jareth was absent because Toby would be running Labyrinth while Jareth was away.

He twisted away and disappeared down the hall that was empty of even lesser goblins and was thus unnoticed. He swallowed his anger that in the months Jareth had once spent trying to win over that girl Toby has won her in two meetings and a dance. Toby had proved better already in some things than Jareth which irked the king more than he'd allow anyone to ever know. Then again, it was only Moppet.

"Good luck, Toby." Jareth turned his back as the Queen of Moraine glanced at Moppet for a moment longer than seemed needed and bowed slightly to the new Prince of Labyrinth.

"I will teach you all I can to help you succeed." Toby gave her a weak smile and sat down at her table, but when he looked to ask Moppet to join she was gone.

.

.

"Ok, this will be the room you can stay in." She wondered if something was wrong or if she was repeating herself because linen for the bed was already set and pillows rested against the head board.

"Is this really ok?" Jared stood in the door frame as if entering would steal his soul away.

"Yes, I insist. I would feel sick knowing you were wondering outside alone…" Her words trailed away as her eyes fell on the bed side table. Under the lamp, reflecting light from the window she glimpsed another small glass orb… or maybe it was somehow the same one. She sucked in a sharp breath and walked over to pick the ball up, but Jared had already picked it up.

"This is pretty…" The words sounded fake coming from his mouth somehow, but she allowed him to play with it as she watched. It wasn't hers to say he could or could not touch it. She had no idea where it came from and now she was wondering more about them then she had before. "Here…" He passed it over to her and she realized she was mesmerized with the way he rolled it in the palm of his hand.

"Ah, Thank you." She took it fearing it might burn her, but it felt just like the glass ball that it was. "I'll be making dinner soon. Feel at home, the fridge is yours to raid…" She stopped and the ball dropped, it rolled under the bed and she stooped low to pick it up. When she eyed under the bed some small woolly looking thing lay underneath it. When she grabbed it, the object twitched and moved. With speed that made her back away it twisted around and into its self and suddenly was baring small jagged teeth. It snarled and she cracked her head on the bed hard, but something gripped her leg and pulled her back. Like a child she screamed without inhibitions and flailed like she was fending off things only kids dreamed of.

"Sarah! Sarah stop!" Jared grasped her hands and made her look at him "It's me." She looked at him like he was a different person. His expression was one that didn't seem right on him, surprise didn't look like an emotion he should have.

"There something under the bed." She didn't look away from him, but he let go and got down on his hand and knees and peered under the bed.

"There's nothing here." She fought back unnatural fear and behind Jared and looked under the bed. Nothing was there, not even the glass ball she'd dropped.

"But something was there…" Being the kind of woman she was she pushed her hand threw her hair and stood up. "I'll go make dinner… come down whenever you want." She left the room and walked down the hall. When she got to the stairs the glass ball sat still at the top stair. There was no way the ball could have rolled all this way and bending down she glared at the ball then kicked it down the hall towards her own room. She took one stop down the hall, but something stopped her. The balls should have made a sound when it made impact with the wall. Hell, it should have shattered with how hard she kicked it and when she leaned back to gaze down the hall. All the doors on that end of the hall were closed and nothing rested on the ground that could hide a ball, so when she could not find the orb she stepped back up the stairs and stood wondering just what was wrong with her.


	13. Chapter 13 The Queen Of Moraine

From the last moments of watching Toby dance about the room with ease Jareth had made a decision that would make things most hard. Jareth had in fact informed Toby that he would be leaving, but now it was going to be much longer than he assumed. There was only a single thing that remained which would have to be fixed before Jareth removed himself from Labyrinth. As such, Jareth swung the door open hitting the guard on the other side and waited impatiently till the goblin stood back up nervously.

"Bring Moppet to me at once and do not think I have the time to wait." The goblin waited for further instruction which seemed to sap that little fortitude Jareth had left. "Well?" He gave the goblin a swinging start with a foot to armour and the goblin went clinking along down the hallway.

He slammed the door shut and kicked the leg of a near-by table then stopped before kicking something else. He was master of himself and so he sat down and snuffed the anger in him that sought to overflow. As if no time at all had passed a knock came to the door and he opened it.

"Leaving so soon Jareth?" In the door Mizumi stood in Sarah's image just to torment him.

"Get out." He was not going to play games with the witch even if she provoked the worst out of him.

"Oh come, come." From behind him she slinked her hand to his face and touched him. He refrained from slapping her hand away, but only just.

"I could stay this way… just for you Jareth. Do not bite the hand that feeds would-be goblin king." She let him go and walked before him no longer as Sarah. "Do you hate her so much then, should I return my ablation to you?" Ignoring her he finished what little menial task he was doing and decided to leave Moppet for his return.

"Do not get comfortable in Labyrinth. You won't be here long." He let the room raging with the way the woman spoke to him and realized belatedly it was a tone he often used himself. The queen of Moraine did not follow for she knew well enough that she would not be able to. Down stairs was dark and used only by the goblin king which he used to get to the world were time flowed as demanded. In Underground Jareth was safe from her and from there he would leave to cut the last string that tied him down and laid him to ruin night after night.

"How are you doing Sarah in your little world? I wonder if everything is still so unfair." A massive door shut behind him were crème colour drapes hung from air and a floor was of no importance. At the end of the room a door with chains hung imposingly with a silent threat for any but the King of Labyrinth and Underground.

.

.

And the next room was the same as the last; empty. On her knees she looked with growing confidence that she was just imagining things and she was just stressed from work. Ignoring her bedroom which she knew would be fine she gathered her wit and went down the stairs with no mishap. As she passed the couch in the living room something slammed shut in the kitchen and drew her attention.

"Jared?" Silence answered her and she eyed the damaged music box that still littered the ground by the entrance. "Jared…?" Confidence forgotten she stuck her head into the kitchen and found no reason that anything should be making noise. The fridge hummed its constant droning melody and the oven made clicking sounds only when it was on. She stepped in when she heard scuttling behind her and turned around, but again nothing was there.

She knew Jared was yet up stairs as she could hear his foots steps along the carpeted floor which made her wonder what was on this level besides her. Again the sound of scurrying feet sounded across the floor and she pelted to the other side of the couch, but already whatever it was, was gone. Something suddenly came crashing down from the book self and she turned in time to see the linen closet door close shut.

"What on earth…" She walked over and swung the door open again, a small book in her hand to crush what was running all over her house to smithereens; nothing but linen and towels neatly folded up was to be seen.

'ding dong'

She twisted around so fast her other foot gave way under her and she toppled onto the couch.

"Damn." Picking herself up and putting the book down then walked towards the front door. She was in no mood for visitors, solicitors of anything else under the sun. She just wanted to find that little vermin running amok in her house and kill it.

"Hello?" She half-heartedly pulled the door open and stopped what she had been about to say.

"Do you remember me yet?" He looked like he'd jumped out of some fantasy performance or an old movie for young girls. The man stood wearing deep blue pants and over shirt, a white shirt with frills and eyes that only a novelist could describe. He was inhuman.

"What is going on…?" She eyed him unable to say more and he leaned in towards her. From the moment she had told him she didn't recall him and repeated those hateful god-forsaking words he swore revenge on her and now he finally had the time for it.

He came so close to her face that she could smell the scent of places young women dreamed of. Of princes and demons and wish-granting fairies; of food from foreign places and ballroom dancing with emperors.

"Are you enjoying my gift, Sarah?" Again the tone that set her tumbling down Alice's rabbit hole without landing or perch to drag herself back out. Then with no mind as to what she was doing she raised her hand and slapped him. His face twisted away and he shot her an infuriating glare that chilled her bones like she was lost in an avalanche.

"Sarah?" A voice behind her pulled her back and she looked at Jared. "What are you doing?" She looked back and her door way was empty. No man in odd clothes, so smell from another world that made the mind dream and think of child-like things; nothing.

"He was just there… that man was just here!" She stepped out and looked down street both ways. Only a few cars roamed up and down the ash colour road.

"No one is there… are you alright?" She slowly faced him and in her eyes the burn of tears threatened to undo her. She was truly going mad… but when her hand came up to wipe away the tears she saw the inside of her palm was bright red and stung with the impact of flesh to flesh.


	14. Chapter 14 'J'

"I'm telling you, he was standing right there! My flipping' hand… my hand still tingles from hitting him." She explained her story to Jared who was rather obstinate about believing her wild tale. She had moved into the living room once more and sat down facing the television even though it remained off.

"Who was he then?" She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't say his name… black dots swam in and out of her vision, but the name refused to come out.

"Say names that are much like yours. I know it sounds like your name, but I can't think." Jared thought a moment and began listing off names.

"James, Joseph, Jamie, Jake, Jarrett…" Each time she said no and shook her head.

"Those aren't it. Maybe I just need some sleep. You think you can make something for yourself if I go to sleep?" Jared nodded and Sarah left immediately. She almost didn't want to go up the stairs and when she opened her bedroom door the look of her bed was like a god sent. "I need this…" She walked into the adjoining bathroom and slipped into her night gown. Shutting the light off she slipped beneath the covers and no faster had her head hit the pillow was she sleeping. The window that faced into her backyard creaked open and a shadow stopped the light from coming in. A silent footstep stood idly over her bed side and then the bed sank in when the shadow sat next to her.

For a moment there was no movement then Sarah turned over. At her side Jareth leaned over and looked at her while she slept. It was an odd thing for him to witness and was unsure whether to continue his little game that he had planned for her. When she continued to sleep at ease and with no stress he leaned over so that his upper body was almost lying beside her. He wondered if this was what it might feel like if she had stayed with him in Labyrinth. It was if the world did not matter to her any more. He also pondered what it might be she would dream of behind the world of closed lids were nothing is what it seems.

She made a slight sound while she slept which brought him back from his own thoughts and he allowed his one hand to dropped down to the floor. From his hand he dropped a crystal orb which rolled under the bed. He took one last look at her face and for the first time wondered; if he still had the part of him which pinned for her, what he might have done differently at this moment. Would he have kissed her or would he still stick to the plan he formed out of loath and grief.

.

.

"Toby, dear boy." From the grand room that he stood Mizumi also stood with her two daughters. Today they began their lessons on magic and small things which he might need to know to rule his kingdom once it became his to run.

"I don't know how to do this… how am I supposed to do something I have never attempted before?" His lessons so far had been ranging from easy to the impossible; his class with Mizumi being the latter.

"You have talent you just… need to apply it." Mizumi found it exceedingly hard to teach, not because Toby was completely without knowledge of the magic world, but because she found it pointless. She knew very well that Labyrinth would soon be hers. Even if Jareth won his little bet. She had a few ways of doing so, but for now, none of those needed to be address. Taking Labyrinth via hostile takeover would prove more harmful to the country she wanted as her own and Jareth would be all the less pleasing if she had to work him for everything. Only thing she had a lacking was in warfare and battle and that she had no general at arms would make it all the more troublesome. The sole reason that she didn't fear other realms was that her kingdom was so grand in size, that it would take 3 countries the size of labyrinth to overtake it.

"I think I will be calling it quits on this for now. I have other studies I must also attend." Toby sighed leaving Mizumi alone to her thoughts. His head hurt as he walked to the completely other end of the castle. While gripping his skull under tired limbs he turned the corner and something smacked into his face.

"Ah!" He swatted whatever it was away until he felt something sharp cut his finger. "Ow!"

"Then watch were you're going you bumbling fool!" A small voice spoke rather rudely to him and he opened his eyes. Before him a small creature hung suspended in mid-air.

"I'm sorry… oh… are you… are you a fairy?" Toby leaned forward and looked closely.

"I am not! I'm a pixie…" The closer he looked the more he was confused.

"Don't pixies have wings?" Before he could say more the little woman swung a kick at him which be backed away from.

"T-they were stolen…" Toby was again confused.

"How did that happen?" He was genuinely concerned for the small woman. "And how did you get stuck up here?" With fingers almost as large as she was tall he untied her while she rested in his other hand.

"I… Who are you?' She looked up at him as she took off the string that might as well have been rope for her.

"Me? I'm Toby… ah… The Prince of Labyrinth." She stared like he was joking, but when he smiled she knew he was telling the truth.

"That's great! That means you can give me back my wings!" She stood up and tugged lightly on the cuff of his shirt.

"How did you lose them?" She dropped the cuff and looked away from him.

"Because I was caught stealing so they ripped them off and hid them from me."

"Really? Who did this?" He was so wrapped up in her story he didn't realize that she wore no clothes.

"The Goblins did it." Toby frown; Who would do such a horrible thing?

"I'll tell you what. I have to go to class right now and you can come if you'd like and after that is all finished, would you allow me to help you find your wings?" She turned around and smiled while jumping up and down.

"Yes, yes, yes. Please do! My name is Hana and I am most pleased to meet you Prince of Labyrinth." The pixie gave a sharp whistle and a small harry creature lumbered towards her which she promptly swung her legs over onto.

Toby began walking towards his next class while a new smile on his face while the creature carrying Hana on its back kept decent pace.

"Just call me Toby; we're friends now so you don't have to call me prince of anything now." She nodded.

It wasn't until he walked faster to catch up for time lost that she yelled at him.

"You're going to fast! Wait up Prince!" Toby stopped and lifted the pixie off of the creature.

"This will be way faster. You don't mind do you?" He set her down on his shoulder and she held on tightly to his shirts cuff. She nodded and whistled again to which her creature departed somewhere.

"I'll make sure to walk slow so I don't jumble you about too much. Hang tight though." The pixie clamped her hands down around his shirt while her little feet dug into his neck which he had to supress the need to laugh.

"That tickles…"


	15. Chapter 15 Jared

From down the stairs Jared sat alone while in the room above he could hear Sarah while she slept. He had almost gone to her room a number of times to wake her up, but always stopped at the stairs. He wondered if she always had dreams that made her scream like she was being murdered.

Another bout of wretched screams echoed throughout her house and he pondered what he might do if someone outside could hear her and came to investigate. Instead of forcing himself to do what his feet disallowed, he got a drink from the fridge and blankly stared at it. He had picked a can of pop and now that he looked at, he wasn't sure he wanted after all.

"Who am I?" He mimicked the tone Sarah had used when she had asked him. He had no idea where he was from, when, why… nothing. Just that when next to Sarah he felt like he was home; whatever that felt like. Behind him he had the feeling of being watched and when he looked he was as alone as ever he could remember.

"Maybe it's this house…" Jared took into consideration the things Sarah had said and the strange feeling the house. Taking the pop can he figured out how to open it and walked out into the living room. That was when he stopped dead in his tracks. From where he stood the back of the couch was facing him and in the center sat someone he had not met before and doubted Sarah knew was even here.

"Who the hell are you?" Jared walked around and the pop slipped from his hands. The man on the couch stood and both stood at the same height. The strange man said nothing and looked as if Jared was some warped mirror then his cheek twitched and a frown pulled down on features not meant to be unhappy.

"Not important... Sarah knows me well enough…" Sarah's screams sang through the hall and Jareth walked away to go up the stairs, but he didn't get far before Jared stepped in the way. With a shove Jareth stepped back and his face darkened. From nowhere a small goblin wrapped around Jared's feet and bit him. Again from up the stairs Sarah cried in the agonized nightmares Jareth had set on her. What irked him is that the boy was trying to protect her… "I have no ill intentions." Jareth figured that something need be said to his look alike.

"None?!" Jared wretched the goblin and lobbed it across the room where it hit the wall and scrambled away. For a moment Jareth looked at the man looking just like himself because now he was concerned. When he grew angry he even sounded like Jareth

He would deal with 'him' after and took the stairs two at a time. Entering her room Jared barged in shortly after as Jareth lifted a ball that rolled out from under her bed.

"What the hell is that?" Sarah's terrors had ended as quickly as he had set them on her. Jareth surrounded his hands around it and when he pulled them apart again the ball was gone. He did not answer Jared. When Sarah continued to twitch in her sleep he wonder if perhaps he had not removed the spell completely and was about to shake her awake, but paused.

"You, wake her." Taking a step back Jared moved forward and shot him a dirty glare.

"The names Jared… not 'you'…" Jareth made no effort to find surprise at his name and watched in some disconnected and distinct way as Jared shook Sarah awake.

Sweat dripped from her face and she woke rather quickly. Jareth reviewed with avid interest the way she looked when waking and how she looked at Jared. Even how Jared dealt with Sarah was interesting… it was like watching a displaced reality of himself with Sarah.

"Are you alright. You were screaming in your sleep." Sitting up she stared into her blankets before running her hand down her leg.

"Did you hit me or something?" She peeled away the side of the blanket and looked down at her ankle where it was red and swollen. She poked in gingerly and winched, that was when she looked up as if the world had fallen to pieces.

"Jared…?" She was sure she had finally gone mad…

"Hello Sarah." Leaning flat against the door which was closed, Jareth eyed her back and was amusing with seeing her in a new light.

"I-I…." Stammering and stuttering she got out of her bed and walked forward. Her eyes darted between Jared and Jareth like she was looking in a distorted mirror. "But you…" She stared at Jareth and her legs twitched and shook. Jared went to give his hand to her, but she slapped it away and turned her back on them both. Walking over to her dresser she looked at herself in the mirror where the span of eternity passed. Jared made no move to help her so Jareth did and as he made the first step towards her, her legs buckled under her and she smashed her head against the dresser as she fell. The mirror tilted forward and shattered; glass rained down on her, blood trickling from the open wound on her head.

Jareth brushed most of the glass from her clothes and tucked one arm behind her neck and knees. Ignoring a feeling he somewhat understood he cursed Mizumi in his mind and rounded viciously on Jared.

"Where did you come from?" He knew very well that somewhere along his plans he made some kind of mistake that Mizumi had used and taken good advantage of. The only question now was how and if he could change this path to one that he was not servant and slave to the queen of Moraine and where the loss of an entire kingdom that he no longer had the ability to return to, did not exist.


	16. Chapter 16 Arrival

Jareth stood and stared a moment at the girl whom had almost laid a kingdom to ruin and didn't even know it and had stolen from him things he was remiss to take back. As she sat looking at him with eyes both blank and full of the world, he allowed only minor regret. He knew now it was not her fault, or so he thought that she had no memory of him.

"Why are you here? How did you get in here?" She stood up and her night gown danced around her ankles. She winced slightly and walked towards him without fear. It seemed that in her home she would counter no stranger. Jareth wondered if she might strike him again. "Why did you allow him in my house?" She rounded on Jared and a slim lined smiled spread on Jareth's face.

"I didn't. I walked into the living room and he was just sitting there, on your couch. I don't know what's going on either." Jared glowered at being yelled at. It was most amusing to see a version of your-self take on such expressions, Jareth was rather amused.

"You've not answered me. What do you want in my house?" In her growing years she had become most attractive, age had not brought her down in the slightest and when she was angry her fierce disposition was most appealing.

"Would you really want to know?" He knew that no matter what, she'd not believe a word he said. From the look of 'Jared' is seemed that Mizumi had gotten to Sarah and made an oblation just for her. It makes sense that she would have no idea who he was and that also made Toby right. Sarah would not have forgotten him so easily.

"Of course I would! Get out of my house!" Her whole body tensed up as she near yelled at him. So to allow Sarah to see just what she was up against Jareth improvised.

"Sarah, don't toy with me." From nothing but air he brought forth a crystal ball like he had once before. He wondered if she would react the same way as she had in the past. "I have a gift for you." He set it out before him in reach of her small hands. She had grown only a bit from when he'd last seen her as a child.

"Those… those are yours? 'These' are you're doing? Running about my house, making me think I was mad?" She was very easy to anger, but more stunning in her older age. He checked himself quickly. An oblation removed whatever the user wished gone; it did not stop it from being born anew and Jareth stopped that from happening right in its tracks.

"Sarah?" She turned her eyes to Jared and scowled." And I suppose you're in on this as well?" He was rather socked.

"N-no. Not at all, I don't even know this man…" Jareth laughed. The irony was all to funny.

"No, I guess you wouldn't would you. Tell me Sarah, what would you do, if I told you that I am the King of the Goblins of Labyrinth?" She did not face him and for just a second she remained silent.

"I would laugh at you. I read a book once about a king of goblins. He was in love with a young woman and she spurned his love to take back a baby that he stole from her…" She turned back around and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You dare to mock me? You dare enter my house and spew out some story of goblins and kings? Are you insane?" She shook him and Jareth was too shocked to move. He looked down in her eyes and there was fire, not love, not admiration or even fear. Just hatred and it coiled thickly and clouded her eyes.

"And if I stole you as I have stolen your brother, little Toby and dragged him to Labyrinth… what would you do then." She was gripping his shirt tightly that her knuckles were white. Jared made no move to stop her, unsure of where he stood in all of this.

"I would have you institutionalized." Her face was so close… it was the closest she had willing allowed since he has laid next to her without her consent. A smile slowly pulled on his features.

"What is so funny you moron?" She let go of him and pointed to her door. "Both of you get out of my house before I call the police." Not only was there fire in her eyes, but it also burned in her heart.

Jareth called forth little minions of his own making and showed Sarah that not all stories were lies. At first she looked around as small laughter snickered from under the bed and sneered at her from closet spaces and drawers. She twisted around and her image overlapped with herself from years before as she swung around to catch a glimpse at the goblins that ran around. One touched her ankle and scurried away while another slide down the curtains. When she saw that one she walked over and ripped the little fellow away and shook him. Its reply was a bite in the finger and a round of manic laughter as it jumped into a laundry bin and disappeared.

"Get out I said!" Jareth ended the games and walked behind her, his hand on her shoulder.

"What makes you think any kind of institution could keep me, un?" She looked away and sat on her bed.

"Where is Toby?" She gripped the side of her bed and visibly grinded her teeth.

"In Labyrinth undergoing severe training I would assume…"

"I-I know you…" Jared looked up at Jareth and eyed him. "I know what I am… I know what you are!" Taking a step forward Jared bent down before Sarah and took her hand, a solemn look on his face. He looked back once at Jareth and only glared. Jareth smiled slightly and drew an orb out from his shirt and tossed it at Jared whom caught it. Instantly a sharp pain lanced threw his head and shoulder and he crumpled forward. His head rested in Sarah's lap and she set it aside to stand face to face with Jareth. He expected a sharp word from her and not the impact of her hand yet again with his face; it was no slap this time either. When he looked up at her she was clenching and unclenching her fist.

"What did you do?! I will throw you out if you've hurt him!" She shook as she spoke making her less likely to do much of anything. Walking seemed like it would prove a hindrance. Jareth was taken aback by her words, she was no longer the child that he could mould with words and directs with actions. Not like he once had… this time called for a different tactic that he was more than fine using to get his own way.

For only a moment Sarah left and vanished down the stairs. When she came back she had an ice pack on her hand and another that she set on Jared's head.

"If you are so strong and almighty, you can deal with the pain on your own." She smiled stubbornly and tried to heave Jared on the bed to rest with no avail. Jareth didn't move to assist her so she had to lay him on the ground and cover him up instead. "We will talk later. For now, I don't even want to see you let alone hear you." She walked out the door once more and he heard another one slam shut in her wake, leaving Jareth alone with Jared.

"She hasn't said it was 'unfair' yet…" Jareth smiled and sat in the only chair in the room and waited. He couldn't help the ablation that took his form any more than he might want to. To come in contact was dangerous… it was a theory that already existed on this planet even and it was called the Doppelgänger Effect. That coming in contact with another version of yourself cancelled each other out. Two things could not exist in the same place after all…


	17. Chapter 17 Pink, White, But Not Purple

The castles joys had settled into the normal routine that it had before aside from the lessons preached on the newly appointed Prince of Labyrinth. While Toby set himself up with high standards he found he lacked some things that he believed essential to governing a city and realm. Though his classes often ran late and were draining in the least he often found time to search for the mysterious wings of a pixie that had them stolen from her.

"Ok prince-ling. We have to find those wings. Do you understand what it's like being a pixie and not having the joys of flight at my fingertips?" Seated on Toby's shoulder the small woman gripped tightly onto his collar so she didn't fall off. She complained whenever he stepped too harshly for her which could send her toppling over had she not clung to him dearly.

"You can just call me Toby; I've said that before Hana…" Starting from the south wing of the castle, Toby and Hana turned beds over and closets apart in search of her wings. When that entire area had turned up without anything they had begun on the next wing. Although she couldn't do much searching and looking around she had keen eyesight which he valued and had gotten them both out of trouble when members of the castle came across rooms left in shambles in their wake. Both would laugh and run down a hall or hidden way to avoid capture and wait until once more the coast became clear.

"What do your wings look like Hana?" The small woman spoke with legs crossed on a table ledge where he set her. She was half naked as most pixies were and her skin shone like twilight. She was one of the most beautiful things Toby had yet seen in the place.

"They are… well wings. Small enough to fit me and they are pinkish, no whitish, not purple…" He sighed slightly when he realize he had no idea what he was looking for.

"And you don't know who stole them to begin with? If you could remember I'd just ask them to return them…" Hana huffed from the table and stood up while pacing back and forth. She tucked her hands under her arms and kicked a small item on the table.

"I'd know them if I saw them… It's not like they gave me their names….Their goblins after all, why tell me anything?" She kicked air and tripped landing on her face.

"Are you alright Hana?" She still looked down and her voice broken slightly.

"I'm alright… Not like that hurt or anything…"

"Hana… you don't have to cry…. We'll find you're wings. I promise." Toby leaned on the table his head on his hands.

"I'm not crying! Why would I do that?" She rolled around and faced away from him. "There only wings…" Her little body shook as she tried to hide the fact that she was crying despite what she claimed. To help her hide it, he picked up a small lace handkerchief from his pocket and tossed it over her like a blanket.

"I'll keep looking… where almost done in this room any ways." He turned around and shoved the clothes back into the closet then rummaged through the dressers and drawers. He found nothing but lint and small things he had no idea as to their purpose.

"Toby…" He turned back to Hana and she stood holding his handkerchief, in her hands it was like a blanket and it dragged behind her was she held it up for him to take back "Thank you…" It was sweet to hear her say soft things, but he'd learnt already that if he made comment she would get angry and act like she was tougher then he assumed. He knew better and just kept it to himself and took back the cloth.

"I think tomorrow we'll keep on with this wing… I have good hopes that we'll find it soon and when we do. You'll be perfect. Not that you aren't now." He chuckled as he set her on his shoulders while she howled about his kind words. She was much too shy to take a complement without protest.

"So we'll keep going tomorrow then?" Toby was about to nod then remembered that he had lessens with both Sir Didymus and Mizumi… He wanted to learn magic very much, but his progress was slow… he could barely do anything in that department.

"Ah no… We'll have to start it when I have no classes… I'm not doing well so they've decided to give me more to try and compensate for my lacking… I'll find you when I'm free though." Hana smiled weakly which made Toby feel less like dirt… he wanted to say he was sorry, but she would just say he was being a baby and send him on his way. So for now he had no choice, but to suffer the slight in silence and hope he would be free more. That was when the idea jumped into his head like a cannon.

"I've got a great idea. Don't you think more hands would make this go faster? How about we ask Moppet to give us a hand? We can cover more ground faster this way and I'm sure she would say yes." Hana sparkled with excitement and laughed in her little voice. "I'll ask her tomorrow when I see her and we'll all work to find those wings of yours. She looks like she needs a friend anyways…" Toby opened the door and hurried away from the room before anyone could catch him in the act of snooping.

Toby was thankful for the little distraction of helping Hana. It took his mind of the heavy burden of learning to become a king. It was also hard to hear that one day that he was doing so well and then next he was a hopeless case. The two classes he did best in were Physical education classes and History. It was hard not to remember everything they had to say about the realm of Labyrinth and even when they spoke of lands far away from this one. He enjoyed the company of Sir Didymus the most though, he found if amusing to no end that his sister Sarah had once ran the lengths of Labyrinth. It was then that his mood turned sour; he thought of the sister and family he had up and left behind at a whim. What would his mother think… when she found out he had disappeared… and what of Jareth? What was he doing while his Kingdom lay in the hands of someone completely inapt. Toby sighed once more and walked with heavy feet to his room. He was too tired to think anymore today about much of anything… he just wanted to sleep.


	18. Chapter 18 Rewritting The Past

Jareth could feel the moment it happened. Although dreams away and dimensions in-between, Labyrinth and the Goblin Kingdom were no longer his. For all that he tried to feel grateful to be freed of the burden of running a realm; he could not shake ill feelings. His bet with Mizumi was more than likely shocking the Goblin City as he sat idly; his hands in his lap, fingers laced together.

'Make an ablation for me… and I will make a bet as payment.'

'What are you betting Jareth, what can the great Goblin-King offer me?'

'… those are my terms…'

'And if I should win the bet?'

'If you win… I will give you the Labyrinth, the Goblin-City and its king.'

Silence stretched into the darkness.

'13 years Jareth, I'll give you 13 years to win or lose your bet.'

Mizumi's sickening smile made it all the easier to hide his own grin. He had gotten what de'd wished for and Mizumi would be the less for it. As of a few hours ago, the 13th year had passed and Mizumi would surely have made it known that she was now Queen. Toby would more than likely be put into exile of some sort as well, Mizumi's attempt to stay her own wrath. Jareth had no intentions of being King when she took Labyrinth. All would have been averted if he could have managed to succeed in his endeavours; that the queen of Moraine took the bet and won was show enough that Jareth was no longer enough to rule the Goblin-Kingdom.

Outside the door which he had closed, the floor boards under the carpet creaked. A shadow hovered silently. Jareth smiled weakly at the childish antics which had once set the loss of his kingdom in motion. At his side Jared remained sleeping; something which interested him greatly.

"You're still here aren't you?" Sarah's voice broke the silence and she pushed the door open. Her face paled and she swung the door open to stand obstinately before Jareth. When she looked at Jared she puffed her annoyance and turned her head back to the ex-king of the Goblins.

"I'm making something to eat. You look thin and I won't allow my anger to cloud judgment. While you eat you can start explaining what's going on... And no funny business." She eyed the Jareth, dressed in clothes not fit for where she lived or anywhere for that matter. Jareth stood and she had to tilt her head up to look at him as she stood a good couple inches above her. Letting the door knob go she turned away from him and walked down the stairs and disappeared. After a lapse in mental composure he followed Sarah down the stairs where unfamiliar smells washed over him. He stood in the kitchen doorway and looked as Sarah, ignoring his presence, moved around, unhindered with food lying about the counters. Behind him was the table he assumed naturally she would eat at and pulling out a chair he sat down. A loud clang came to his ears and then Sarah swore causing Jareth to grin. He'd never heard her swear; it was almost as if she was not capable of it in his eyes. After waiting only a few minutes she came out with a plate in her hands and stopped dead in her tracks. She set the plate down on the corner of the table and lowered her head. Her hand rose to her face which her hair was now covering and she shook. Jareth stood almost immediately as small muffled sounds came from her body as she shook a few more times.

He took one step towards her before she straightened up and burst into laughter. Jareth was so shocked at the sound that he almost tipped backwards. Her face was bright pink and her hand was covering her mouth, but her laughter got the better of her and she bent at the waist holding her knees for support. It was a good minute or so before she was able to speak and her laughter died away.

"I'm sorry… I couldn't help it. You were just funny looking sitting at my table…" She giggled a few more times lightly and looked up at him which was even more startling. Jareth's face was completely confused. He stood as if the ground was about to give out under his feet and one hand rested on the table for balance. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tick you off or anything. It was just funny looking. I meant nothing by it." Jareth remained silent. "Ah… here then." She picked up the plate and set it in front of the chair Jareth had been sitting it before her outburst. He didn't sit back down until she had returned to the kitchen.

In the years when he first watched over Sarah he'd not often seen her laugh and when she did it was not like she had just seconds ago. It had completely thrown him that from her mouth she could laugh at him, a King, and didn't mind it in the slightest. In fact, it had thrown him for the simple fact that he had been laughed at and somehow enjoyed it. He looked down at the plate and was shocked again when he found he'd already eaten half of it and not noticed; it was better than the food he ate normally.

"If you're thirsty I can get you something to drink." She stuck her head out from the door and Jareth could only nod. She didn't even ask what he wanted and when he thought about it she already ready sat down with her own plate of food and slid a drink over to him. Sadly he had no idea on how to open the drink until she did it, her drink made a popping sound and she took a swig of it before eating like he did at a dinner table. He opened the drink she'd given him resulting in the same odd sound and eyed the drink before taking a sip. His eyes watered and he swallowed it quickly. It felt weird in his mouth, like soap bubbles bursting on his tongue minus the awful taste of the cleaning liquid. Other than the odd sensation of drinking something much like champagne yet completely different tasting it was rather good.

"So what do you want to know, Sarah?" From her plate the smile faded and she rested an elbow on the table. It annoyed him that when he spoke or she looked at him she frowned, but she could laugh at him without him doing a thing.

"Who you are, who he is, where you came from and what you have to do with Toby." She pointed to the ceiling when she spoke about Jared and squinted when she mentioned her brother Toby; Even years later she managed to be so protective of the boy.

"I suppose I have to start at the beginning and I can only imagine that you will shout that I'm am raving mad and call me a liar. I'm telling you right now Sarah, do not to that." As he spoke he could tell she was becoming less and less impressed with the way he spoke to her and he was interested in the fact she made no effort in hiding her distaste.

"Alright. I'll do what I can…" She slid the plate away from her and took her drink, but didn't sip at it.

"Thirteen years ago, when Toby was an infant and you were a mere child, The Goblin King came to you. You wished that the king of the Goblins come and take your little brother away. He came and when you realized you had done wrong, you asked for your brother back. When he would not do so willingly he told you that in thirteen hours if you could get back your baby brother, that you could have him and return home..." He watched as Sarah looked at him, her face not remembering any of the tale. He was both irate and saddened with his realization that something was very wrong, but he continued. "You traveled through a labyrinth that wound around the goblin-city gaining more and more help as you got closer to your baby brother. In truth, the goblin king did not expect you to make it all the way. He wanted you to fail, but not for the sake of just the baby. You see, the king…" Jareth paused and looked closely at the girl that had ruined a kingdom, stole his power to rule it and recalled no of it; Nothing of him what so ever. "The king had fallen in love with you." Despite telling the story he numbed himself and his voice grew cold. "He had fallen in love with you and to keep you as his own, took your brother to make you in debt to him and stay in the castle beyond the goblin city with him. So, when you came to close and quickly to taking back your brother, he threw obstacles in your way to stop you, none of which slowed you down enough. You arrived at the castle and found your brother and when you found the king, you stripped him of his power and shunned his love. You took your brother and left a broken king and somewhere along the lines up till now, have forgotten all which took place."

She stared at him and he thought somehow she knew all that he said was true. That was before she looked at him with unbelieving eyes and rested her head in her hand to stare at him.

"I beg forgiveness if I piss you off now. First of all, you're telling me about a story I loved as a kid and in the story the girl mentioned never broke the king of any power. Second, I'd never have forgotten if I had to traverse a mystical land to get back my brother from some goblin-king. And thirdly…" She leaned over and looked at Jareth long and hard. "If all of this is true and I've got a really weird kind of amnesia, who are you to know about all of this?" He leaned back and looked at her as if she were something to be pitied.

"Why bother lying about it? Why make up a story, what would I gain from it?" She looked sceptical.

"Ok then. So who are you? One of the 'friends' I'd met on the way and never seen me until now? One of the bad guys sent to slow me down and just stopped after I'd won the day? Or maybe you are the king that expected love from a girl not old enough to know what love really was. So what is it Jareth? The friends that I don't see, the unobtrusive obstacles or the loveless king?"

Jareth sat in his chair stripped of many of the things he'd blamed the girl for and was informed by the woman that he was out of his mind. That a girl as Sarah had been was not able to love, did not know what it was and was thus unable to return it. His perspectives of the events of 13 years ago shifted and changed and he was no longer sure he was not the mad-king she made him out to have been, to still be. Her voice invaded his mind had he tried to filter and sift through years of time in different eyes.

"Tell me Jareth. Are you the friends who helped me win the day?" He shook his head.

"Then perhaps the failures that tried to stop me?" She was raging and he could almost understand why.

"Then are you the mythical king of the goblins in love with me?" He paused and once more shook his head. He was no longer king to claim the title and her next words breached the shield around him. "Then you were nothing." The finality of the words snapped his control on the situation and himself and he rose from his chair and tipped it backwards. In three steps he stormed across the table and leaned over Sarah, his hands holding her face and in a soft and easily broken fake calm. She sat tilted back in her chair with the shock from her chair hitting the floor and looked at him as he gripped her chin. His breath was calm, but she could feel his pulse beating madly in his veins through his fingers though he barely touched her. He looked at her with only a few fingers space between their faces. His face a mixture of calm and a look of lost she didn't understand all the while fighting something from within. She watched every part of his face as if he was about to lose control and let some kind of enraged animal free.

Her heart stopped when he came just slightly closer. He was so close she could feel the heat from his skin and smell the scented things he must bath or shower with as the smell didn't have the strength of cologne. She wondered, just for a moment, if he was actually as lonely as he looked and the eternity resumed as he let go of her face and turned the corner to go up the stairs. Sarah touched her face and realized she had been holding her breath the entire time he'd held her and how suddenly she was so very cold in his absence.


	19. Chapter 19 Affairs

In the farthest reaches of the Goblin city the soon-to-be King of Labyrinth wakes in the company of the Queen of Moraine. Dark clouds of molten grey blot the sun out and a cool breeze, cloying with the scent of moist earth and the growth of green. The expressions on both Queen and future King are similar for very different reasons.

In the mind of Mizumi, she pictures her fingers long and white around the boy's neck. In her eyes the jewel that is the labyrinth set before her. Her plans so forth have been halted in their tracks while the boy in his own way excels more and more in matters of state. Reports of his eagerness to learn and aptness irk her while in her time with Toby he learns little if anything. Magic is not his forte thankfully, but even so she screams inside the closed confines of her mind while the forsaken Pathmaker evades her grasps to power. The little Pathmaker being the most important thing Mizumi's needs to run Labyrinth and sadly, she knows well enough obeys only Jareth. So until Toby can find and bend the Pathmaker's will to him and then to herself, she stays on the sidelines teaching a magic less boy magic.

Toby on the other hands, worries are many. At his side he ignores the woman he can tell is irate with him. He can't do the simplest magic like turning a cup into a flower. Instead he'd barely managed to change the tea from oolong to earl grey. He'd been impressed with it, Mizumi not so much. The only thing he managed to do good in was his studies. History, style, food, physical education; All his teacher said he was a marvel to be praised, but even that had its concerns. While his studies took most his time, he was unable to assist Hana retrieve her stolen wings. She asked him every day and he could only tell her 'not right now' or 'I'm so tired…. How about tomorrow?'. Today she hadn't even asked and he didn't get to see Moppet either to thank her for all her help so far and now he had to go to some prophet to claims his 'prophesy'. Even if it sounded like just another formality, it sent a shiver down his spine.

.

.

In the stone halls of the castle beyond the Goblin city Moppet and Hana looked through rooms and closets, chambers and dungeons with a set of keys Moppet had 'borrowed' from Spittledrum. It wasn't till they arrived at a door which no key can open that Hana slides her hands into the key slot and works at the old lock. As the door slid open Moppet and Hana stare into a room clearly not meant not to be opened. Inside, a mirror leans against a large wood desk with a chair before it. The bed is covered with soft white and pink blankets, toys adorn the wall, posters, pictures and nick-nacks all around. It was not a room furnished for any goblin.

A single look passes between Moppet and Hana. The words remain unsaid, yet both understand. They should not be here. It's not until Moppet sees a small music box that the feeling of unease intensives and her hands close around the box and opens the lid. The music floats in the air and her hands tighten around the box.

"I know this song…. Why do I know this song?"

'As the world falls down…'

"Why do I know these things?" Her hands open the closet while the music still plays. Her hands brushing along dresses made for women higher than a queen. Perhaps a goddess might wear them.

'…Falling…'

"Let's go Moppet. This place gives me the creeps." Moppet turns and closes the closet then stands before the music box. Her eyes fixed as if hypnotized.

'Falling in love.'

Her hands slammed down on the box just as the door made a loud click sound. Moppet tries to close the distance between the dresser and the door in five steps and heaves the handle to no avail.

"It's locked and won't open…" Hana walks over and kicks the door while yelling obscenities.

On the other side of the door the large and round figure of Drumlin casts a shadow on the locked door. Her smile broadens as she recalls her mother's words to her.

"_Labyrinth will soon be mine. Make sure Toby's friends do not get in my way." _

As if dreaming of a seven coarse meal Drumlin slamed her fists into the floor and then pushed the walls next to the door. The stone walls creak and crack as the small tower room begins to break away from the castle down to the ground seven levels below. The sound is so loud that she can't hear her own laughter and she is too enthralled with her prey to notice the stone under her own feet were crumbling away until she tips forward with the tower outside.

"No… stop…" She yells as if the stone will yield to her will and tumbles onto a footing on the level directly below. Fifteen feet away stands the fairy who plucks at the fake goblin-girl's fingers as she tries to pull herself up. Drumlin grins madly and puts two fingers into her mouth, her whistle summoning the rain cloud that follows Moulin. Being the daughter of a great Queen has its advantages and while Drumlin drinks in the rain from the cloud she grows in size, the platform under her cracking once more under her weight.

"Come here you little pests… Mother doesn't want anyone getting in the way anymore, so the wingless bat and fake goblin-girl have to go." She chuckles to herself once more and steps forward. As the ledge only goes so far Drumlin's intentions are obvious. Push them from the ledge and make it look as if it were only an accident. She only stops when she sees the fairy bend down to her little pet and it begins to hollow.

"Rocks… friends…" The creature says and bellows again. From above, Drumlin is pelted with rocks which also hit the ledge. It creaks and breaks in a matter of seconds and sends all four falling.

.

.

Inside the room Jared was left to sleep, Jareth passes back and forth. His heels are silent on the hard wood floor and his thoughts haunt him. Something in Jareth's plans had changed or something had gone wrong. As of today, Toby should be the King of Labyrinth which means Mizumi should have over thrown the Goblin city. But too many things remain unsure… Jareth was sure that when Mizumi took over Labyrinth she would return his ablation to him… the girl was a pest and even still he'd been left behind… and this boy… Jared… He seemed to be someone else's ablation… he was too much like the girl to not be one, but here he lay still. Down the stairs he can hear Sarah wash the dishes she'd used to feed him and his thought turned once more…

"Perhaps Mizumi had returned my ablation…" His mind on the incident that took place at the table. He'd held her face in his hands, her face less than an inch span away. For god's sake he could smell the soaps she used as he knew she never wore perfume and still smelled of open fields covered in flowers. At his side his fingers dung slightly into his palm.

.

.

The facet ran on full blast and she leaned over the sink mindless of the chore at hand.

"Get a grip…" Irritated with herself she opened the garbage can and stopped. At the top of the garbage were the mangled pieces of the music box. The lid was broken and the figurine inside missing. Feeling a sense of nostalgia she picked the box up and twisted the knob on the side which grinned loudly. She doubted the box would play, but once it was wound it played as if it had never been ruined. After a moment she set the box down on the counter and closed her eyes to listen to the beautiful music. She was completely unaware that Jareth had come down the stairs and stood in the doorway to the kitchen. As if fate or destiny existed and Jareth had no choice, he stepped behind her and raised his hands to take one of her free hands and wrap the other around her waist. He'd once danced with the child-like Sarah that knew nothing of love. Tonight he would dance once more, but with the grown-up Sarah, he would not allow himself to say it, but he wished she would now know something of love.

All he had to do was take her hand, reach out and take her hand to find out.


	20. Chapter 20 Hall Of Prophesy

The large and old door creaked open and Toby held the door open for Mizumi. Inside, a wizened and gangly goblin with a long white bread that curled around his neck propped his head up from the book he read.

"And who might you be?" Mizumi closed the distance between the goblin and herself and she felt Toby linger back a bit. At this she smiled and spoke.

"This here is Toby, the upcoming King of Labyrinth and he is here to claim his prophesy." The goblin marked his page in the book and closed it, dust clouds rose and Toby coughed.

"We'll then. Let's go and get the King-to-be his prophesy." The goblin hopped down from his chair and when standing he barely came up to Toby's knee.

"Might I ask, how reliable are the prophecies here?" Toby was unsure of exactly what he needed to do. How does someone just claim a prophecy after all? Does it not have to be foretold by another and set only for one person?

"We'll… the first prophesy made here was that the Hall of Prophesies would be a lonely place. Sure enough… no one ever comes here…" The goblin chuckled and twisted his beard around his fingers as he tried to keep in step with the larger pace set by Mizumi and Toby. After being lead down a series of aisles and halls that all looked the same, Toby broke the silence.

"I guess it wouldn't be a part of Labyrinth if it's was easy to navigate…" The goblin laughed at Toby's 'brilliance' and hopped onto a chair behind a large book-covered desk.

"Sure enough, you are right." The largest and oldest looking book opened with stiff pages. Its dark red cover paled from dust and a lack of light. The goblin started reading off prophesies that Toby may like, but Mizumi was the one which picked.

"That one if far too vague… perhaps something clearer?" The next prophesy spoke of cleaning glass windows and Mizumi stifled the need to throttle the old coot. "Ah wait… How about this one…?"

'When King of old forsakes his hall,

And chaos comes to goblin town

A Human boy shall heed the call

The long lost heir shall don the crown.'

"See? It even rhymes. Isn't that nice?" Mizumi spoke as her grin broadened, but she was silenced when the goblin continued to speak.

'A promise of yore, born of blood

Will open the path to Labyrinth's heart

And usher forth a wondrous flood

A new era then shall start.'

"Ah… wait a minute… What's all this about blood?" Toby turned to Mizumi, his face was somewhat pale and he looked as if he'd not seen the sun for 10 years.

"Toby, this is merely to add flare to the prophecy. It means little, just small print; all prophesy have it." She looked to the Keeper of Prophesies. "This one will do, thank you." And she turned to usher Toby down the hall. The goblin looked back down at the page with a solemn and lonely face. He muttered to himself in the darkness where no one could hear.

"Why is it they never let me finish reading their prophecy...?" He sighed and read the last paragraph to himself, the words making little sense to him. "Oh well." He closed the book and slid it back under the tower of other dust spackled books and followed the tall woman and the young boy.

"So that's really it?" Mizumi nodded. She was more impressed with having found such a prophecy as she did. It spoke well to her. A new era was surely coming and she was going to be the head-spear of it all. Labyrinth was destined to be hers with her blood born children as her own heir. Who else could such a prophesy truly speak of?

"Yes Toby. That is it. All that is really left to be done is find the Pathmaker and master your skills in Magic. After that, little stands between you and Labyrinth. It is just taking some time. All will be well." Both Queen and future King spoke of matters that Toby knew little of. Mizumi continued to pattern the boy as she saw fit, just little pushes and pulls here and there and she would have him in her hands. A scream stopped all thought between Mizumi and Toby.

Toby bolted around the corner to see rocks and Moppet falling; Mizumi's daughter was also falling down from what looked like the castle having given way.

"Moppet!" Toby ran forward in a failing attempt to catch her, but she was too far away. Three stories and falling he continued to run when his arms stretched out and his hands hung below Moppet like a large blanket pulled taunt to catch her. From behind him Mizumi rounded the corner and was rather impressed and densely unimpressed.

"So the boy's magic skills are impulsive… He might not be completely useless after all." She watch her daughter land and bounce, Drumlin's body was simply a super ball and the ground nothing to worry from. Never the less Mizumi let out a sigh of breath and rushed over. For all that the queen seemed cool and collected; Toby found himself thinking she was actually a devoted mother.

"Are you alright?" Toby's hands shrunk back to their normal size and he set Moppet down. Her face was hidden under a sheet of pale blonde hair and she bent down to pick up the broken mask she wore. Moppet made a sound as if she was crying and Toby went to hold her for a moment.

"No. Don't…" She turned to him and lifted her face. Toby's world twisted under his feet and the name came from his lips before he even thought it.

"Sarah…" Hana finished tending to her friend and turned angrily to Toby.

"I don't know what the hell is going on here, but your Queen friend there's daughter tried to kill us you know! She tried to push us from the tower!" Hana glared angrily at Toby, Drumlin and even Mizumi. Toby turned slowly and extremely confused to Drumlin and Mizumi.

"What's going on here?" Moppet clutched her head as if trying to blot out the sound of his voice.

"I have no idea what they're talking about." Drumlin grinned at Hana which made Hana want to spear her with her javelin that she often carried.

"You tried to kill us in the tower and when we got out, you tried again to push us off the castle walls! Toby!" Toby shook his head. None of what both parties said made any sense.

"Moppet… what happened. I want to hear what you have to say." Moppet looked up from her broken mask and looked sideways to Mizumi. She shook in her own skin and stepped away. "Moppet please. I need to know what happened." He reached his hand out to take her and she stepped away as if he meant to hurt her. Her eyes clouded with tears and she ran back towards the rubble and disappeared.

"I think there has been a misunderstanding. Drumlin… as you can see if slightly over-powering. She more than likely didn't mean any harm. Right darling?" Mizumi rested her hand on the back of Drumlin's shoulders. Drumlin only nodded.

"We'll… from now on, please don't play in the towers… they aren't safe as it seems. I will speak with Moppet and Hana… see if I can't fix all of this. Please excuse me." Toby turned to Hana as she got on to her pet's back. "Hana… can I have a word with you?" Hana looked up, her face red and her hands gripping tightly at the hair on the nap of the little creatures back.

"There's nothing to talk about." She dug her heels in slightly too hard and the creature whined. She apologized and then took off in the same direction as Moppet. Toby was confused more so and now had no one to talk to.

"This makes no sense. Why does Moppet look so much like Sarah? Why would Hana say Drumlin was trying to kill them… I've never known Hana to lie but… and… My head kills." He grabbed his head and sat down. Mizumi had told Drumlin to go on ahead while she comforted the King. "I think I should make a house call. I want to talk to my sister…" Mizumi frowned.

"I'm afraid that is impossible." Toby looked up as if Mizumi had slapped him.

"I beg your pardon?" Toby stood up and guarded himself… as if a woman like her could actually harm him though. She was so thin and well-spoken it was hard to think such a woman could hurt him in any way.

"You cannot go to see your sister. It is a rule from all those that are Kings of Labyrinth. So long as you rule Labyrinth you can never leave her walls." Toby looked at her disbelieving.

"But Jareth! He'd gone to my sister while he was King did he not?" He grasped at strings and tried can call her bluff, but for once Mizumi told the absolute truth with no hidden meanings, no lies.

"Only one that makes a strong enough wish can call the Goblin King to them. Jareth did not go to Sarah. She had summoned him... or perhaps it was the wish of a child for outside help. Either way, of the two that Jareth came to see in your house years ago, either you or Sarah had called for Jareth's aid. The only way to see your sister is if she wishes to see you so badly that you are summoned to her." Suddenly labyrinth seemed to span the lengths of eternity and his home was a place he could never return to… Not so long as he remained the King of the Goblins.


	21. Chapter 21 Past And Present Sarah

The time inside the small kitchen seemed to move so slow it might have been backwards. The music playing from the broken box sang loudly and Jareth paused, a breath away from taking Sarah's hand. She still listened to the song quietly, her eyes closed and her fingers tapping on the counter to the tune.

'As the world falls down…. Falling…. Falling in love.'

The music stopped. Jareth's hand lingered under Sarah's elbow; he had been seconds away from pulling her into the dance the song had been made for. But the music had died and so did the moment. He stepped back from her and made sure to make a sound behind her. Startled as she was, she grabbed the box and slid it into the garbage once more before turning with her hands behind her and leaning back against the counter. She had a look on her face as if she had been caught doing something wrong.

"Jesus Christ… you scared the crap out of me…" She laughed half-heartedly to herself and rested her hand on her chest to catch her breath. As if in one moment she recalled how both had reacted to each other earlier she turned back to her dishes and grabbed the sponge angrily. "Did you need anything else? Or did you plan on telling me if not who you are, who Jared is?" She wanted to avoid the conversation about Jareth himself. He seemed touchy about it and didn't feeling like babysitting a child throwing a tantrum. She was too old for that kind of stuff.

"I don't know who Jared is. I've had a few ideas, but none of them make much sense. So as I can't tell you any more about myself or Jared, why not tell me about you? Perhaps there is something there to be found…. Sarah?" He called her name when she didn't answer. She was hunched over the sink, her one hand touching the counter lightly as if it were some crazed animal about to strike at her.

"In a moment. I want to make a phone call." She left the room after turning the facet off. She'd just have to do dishes later. She didn't get through more than three at a time before her mind drifted away onto to other matters. Jareth didn't follow her right away, but showed up when she listened to the phone ring and ring. No one was picking up. "He never picks up his cell phone…" She waited for the answering machine to pick up and furrowed her brows when it came up.

"The King you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave your name and number and he'll call you when he's not busy." The phone beeped for her to start talking. She got three words into leaving him a message when the phone beeped again telling her that she had no time left for her message.

"What the hell…?" Since when has Toby ever been a King? She turned the phone off and sat down on her couch. "You say you know of Toby? Then where is he right now?" Jareth sat down on a chair for one. His clothes clashed miserably with everything he was near. He clearly didn't belong here.

"I can say he resides in Labyrinth. More than likely at the castle…"

"Beyond the Goblin city?" She finished his sentence and he nodded. She smiled mockingly and rested her head on her bent arm to stare at the ceiling in disbelief. How did this guy expect her to believe a single thing that came out of his mouth? "Ok listen. I don't trust you one little bit and not a word from your mouth makes any sense. Prove to me anything that you've said is true and I will try, try to do… whatever you need from me… What do you want from me? And what does anything have to do with Toby?" She felt like she was running in large circles.

"I don't know what I need from you. I came with an agenda and I seem to have forgotten what it was. As for Toby… he is the King of Labyrinth now that the old King has stepped down. Things soon will turn very bad for him I am afraid. A queen from another realm will take what Toby has and I am unsure of what she will do with your brother… and Sarah. Sadly, there is little you can do about it." For a moment, just one moment Jareth took on the air of a man clearly lost. He seemed smaller and lacking the lustre he had when he came to her, but he had returned to being a person with no room for anyone else.

"Nothing I can do? Then why are you here… why is Jared here? What is going on?" She grabbed her head and tried to force her breath into controlled submission. "Fine… you still have the burden of truth. Prove to me what you say is true and why I can't remember anything you said I should." And to that Jareth was at a loss.

"Sarah?" From the living room doorway stood Jared. She'd forgotten about him in since the music box for the most part. "What happened?" Suddenly she recalled her first serious confrontation with Jareth.

'What would you do, if I told you I was the King of the Goblins?'

He had said that to her. Mocking her and then later said he was no king… what was he playing at?

"God dammit it… this makes no sense… You!" She turned to Jareth who sat nicely and neatly in her chair. He looked as if he felt at home while looked deranged in his clothes and setting.

"You said you are not a king, but early you asked me what I would do if you said you'd been the King of the Goblins… So tell me and god dammit it and make it the truth. Were you the King of the Goblins once?" Jareth had not assumed his previous inquiry would have come back to him like this… he'd only wanted to toy with her.

"And would this answer do anything for the situation you are in? Will that somehow make things clearer to you?" She looked down slightly and then back to him with a vengeance.

"Sure, why not." She was pissed. For some reason she'd allowed two complete strangers that looked like they could have been twins in to her house and play mind games with her.

"Yes." She almost thought she heard wrong. She'd expected him to say no and then she would have kicked them both out and been done with. She'd not thought for a second that he'd actually say 'yes'. So to call the situation back to her hands she filled her next few words with venom.

"Then I can see why I'd not picked you…" She stood and her legs felt like mush. Jareth stood from his chair and walked ever so slowly to her. Jared might as well have still been out cold upstairs for all Sarah knew. Jareth paused before Sarah, but didn't touch her.

"And why might that be? What can a girl with no memory say to or about the man before her when she knows nothing? What about me now says to you I'm no good or was no good? Tell me Sarah…" Her breath burned in her throat. She knew that he was right. She knew nothing of him and recalled nothing about him from 'before'. Only what he said had happened.

Jareth smoldered inside. Still, even when she doesn't know a think about him she would reject him. The blasted woman and her infernal brother would always be closer. What did he not have that she needed?

"Tell me Sarah… one more thing. What is it that I'm lacking… what do I not have that you want? What can a girl that should know of love now that a man like me does not have?" She stared like he'd hit her. Her hands eased at her side like she'd lost a battle with herself, but then she looked at him. The same look he'd once seen and the look which words spoke of his fall from power. That look…

"You have no love." But where she said this he heard only distance words of the past.

"You have no power over me."

He said nothing more; he looked down at the small frame of the woman he'd wanted as his queen. Now he wanted nothing of her. He studied her and then from behind her, Jared and wondered just who or 'what' he was. But it didn't matter to him anymore and he walked passed Sarah and left out the front door. When she went to say sorry he was nowhere in sight. All that remained of him now was the twin, Jared.

"I have the weirdest feeling that everything he said, now and earlier were all the truth. I don't know why, but… Everything in this house… seems familiar. Even before I'd been in it or seen anything of it. And he was the most familiar. I kind of feel lost now that he's gone." Sarah closed the door and walked up the stairs without looking at Jared. Everything that had happened today was making her ill.

.

.

In the distance on top of a tree Jareth stands and waits, for what he's not so sure. She has no memories. Jared is an enigma he could not explain. And still… he felt the connection to Labyrinth. Toby had not taken the ascent to the crown yet and he wondered why.

"How long did it take you to find me Esker?" From behind Jareth a dark form stepped into the light.

"Longer than I'd have hoped. My lady is most displeased with your escape." Jareth grinned.

"I don't plan to go with you willingly. I don't plan to be Mizumi's puppet. Go back and tell your queen that." Jareth took a few steps away down the path he had come up. He was going to disappear into this world to never be found again.

"You will be able to tell her yourself." Jareth laughed mercilessly and turned to face Esker, Mizumi's personal guard. Belatedly he saw Esker's grin and the ice which had already closed around Jareth's feet.

"So Mizumi took you into her close confidence and lent you power… How unlike her to share." With little time left and as the ice crept slowly up his legs and waist the pulled a glass ball from his hand and whispered into its clear depths. It dropped from his hands before he'd finished and Esker laughed as the ball rolled away, whatever magic Jareth had planned lost in the grass. The ice was at his neck and closing around his head.

"My Lady will be glad to see you again."

"That will make only one of us then." And the ice closed around pale blue lips.


	22. Chapter 22 Secrets

The walls were damp, moisture clinging to them like the stench of death after a month's time. Shaking the chill that had been set into bones, Jareth sat on the ground, his feet in light chains, this did not stop them from being impossible to break. Mizumi was very advanced in her magic's and he knew she would never take the chance that he could escape. The last thing Mizumi needed now was the Pathmaker.

"My dear kingdomless King, What shall I do with you…? I have time enough to play around with you… my little goblins that are out to find your errant Pathmaker are making good time. When I do, Toby will fall and join you in this little cesspool I've housed you up in. Then I will have as you promised. Labyrinth and its King, despot as you may be, I will have you." She grinned as she leaned over and took on Sarah's likeness once more. Mizumi might be able to look like Sarah, but she was sadly lacking. She could not hide her smell and she would never act the 'lesser' part that Sarah did. The woman he'd witnessed in the Kitchen of her home could never be mimicked by the Queen of Moraine.

"Are you finished? I've nothing to say to you, taunt me if you can and chill me with your presence. I make no choice to mainstay or upheave your devilish works. It does please me though that the little Pathmaker still evades capture… he's not very apt and I'm afraid that says much of you and your minions…" Mizumi broke face and she no longer held the elegant and genial smile that always touched her lips. Her face returned to her own and she raised her hand. Between her fingers wisped around small particles of fluttering light. As if fireflies gathered in her hands, then they turned into a solid glowing orb which showed the face of the goblin-girl Moppet. Jareth didn't allow his face to pale and he fought back the urge to clench his jaw.

"Did she not also reject you, Jareth? Is it that even a liking to your precious Sarah is too good for you? She said she loved someone else… could it be that this also may be the reason Sarah could not be yours?" Jareth laughed at her then which she was never the less nonplus about. "And what might be so amusing that even in confinement you would laugh at your safeguard?"

"While I evaded your grasps Mizumi, I took company in the girl Sarah's house which you seem so intent on speaking about. She seems to have lost her memory of the time in Labyrinth. It was first most displeasing, but I could speak with her in a way I would never have managed otherwise. For this I thank you." Mizumi frowned outright. She was not impressed that even with an ablation she managed to assisted Jareth in some way. The ablation created for Sarah was to remove all traces of Jareth from her memory. This included emotions… nut every magic has a downside… an ablation was no different.

"And what might I have done to deserve your thanks?" She asked but could care less if she found out. Jareth knowing this smiled at her and continued.

"I spoke with her, without prejudice, without hatred or scorn. I asked the now woman what it could have been that would have set her younger self against me. She informed me and to my delight I was not thrown aside as you may think. I find it amusing even to myself, that I was not able to realized _my_ error before. Having known all this now, I'm afraid nothing you do today or later will amount to any change between us. You may be queen, but even without my kingdom, mine greater than yours." Mizumi turned on her heels and slammed the door behind her. He was happy to have pissed the senseless and yet genius woman into fits of upset. Sadly his own words spoken hit him in return and his last way to rectified that was lost in the grasses in Sarah's world. He had no luck in her world so he could only rely on hers and prayed, when he'd never done so before that the Pathmaker would remain for a time, out of harms reach.

.

.

In her own room the Queen of Moraine smoldered with pent up outrage. She couldn't believe that in some way she helped in letting him come to terms with what he'd lost. To fix the mess she would make sure he would pine forever for the woman lost. The ablation once made could be placed back. Or she could do worse; what she had once failed to inform the Goblin King was that any harm which came to a ablation would be returned in equal to its origin. So if his little ablation came to harm and was killed somehow… Jareth would feel undying pain before death came to him, it was a pity Mizumi still wanted him for herself. The concept brought light to her own issue with ablations. Ones which needed to be fixed before anything wrong could happen.

"Esker. I'm returning to Labyrinth. Watch him with more eyes than you have. If he escapes… you will be less then dead." The man bowed; his skull mask half covered in shadow. He waited until Mizumi walked through a portal of water and light and disappeared. It was not till she'd gone that he stood straight and walked down to guard his lady's pet.

Though Mizumi passed leagues in moments while under water, she breathed as if it was no hindrance. She re-emerged moments later in the confines of her room in the Castle beyond the goblin city. She sat down a moment and thought of the things left to be done.

"I need the find the Pathmaker. Make Jareth bleed his heart out. Return my ablations to me… and find my way into Underground." This task she spoke to no one about. Not even Drumlin or Moulin. Underground was hers to discover… after the Pathmaker bent to her power nothing was left. Mizumi slid her hand into her inner most pocket and retrieved a small pinkish crystal. It was perfectly round and was cloudy in its depths. For a moment she considered shattering the stupid thing… but no. She would win Jareth's' heart and breaking this… would set him against her forever. This she was well aware of. So, she turned it in her hands and whispered into it like a satisfied lover, the orb glowed brightly and began to dissolve. "That should be enough to make you mine… even if unwilling." In less than a minute the pink orb vanished in the air. This magic once performed for her own deeds would be undone and she had two more left to unwind. She could no longer risk having them around or becoming a danger to her.

.

.

Sarah passed the living room. Jared stared at her and flicked a piece of lint from his shirt.

"You're upset that he walked out aren't you?" Sarah stopped and rounded on him like a cornered and wild animal.

"Sure as hell I am. Guy shows up dressed like a goon, talking nonsense and then disappears. He's gonna get lost and end up in some ditch… I'd feel responsible." Jared sat up and rested his elbows on his knees.

"That's not it… He said things that got to you. What did he say while I was not here?" She sat down, but would not look at him.

"Stuff. Things that made no sense… Said he was a goblin king, then that he wasn't. Told me the story I loved as a kid was used to win me to return love to him, or whoever the guy was, king or not… he played with illusions… That ball he had. That thing creeped me right out…. Said Toby wasn't here anymore and when I tried to call him… I got a weird message from his machine. And then there's you… You look just like him. You don't know him, but he kind of knew you and you both look like twins. You could be the same guy if you didn't act completely different…" She finally looked at him and she stood up and grabbed at his arm. Her hand passed right through it.

"What the hell…" Jared stood up and stared as his arm slowly began to disappear in light. "Sarah?"

"What the hell. Jared, what's happening, what's going on?" She stopped and realized she was trying to let go of his arm, but she couldn't. He was slowly becoming part of her and she cried for reasons she was unsure of. Jared looked at her unable to speak. "Jared, talk to me. Make it stop…" The tears came harder and both of them dropped to their knees.

"It was nice having met with you Sarah. I understand what I am now… I think." Sarah touched his other arm which began to blend with her and both their knees touched, light draining from him and pouring in to her.

"What do you mean? Understand what!" Jared leaned close to her arms as one; legs blending together, both their heads leaned against the other.

"I am Jareth." She looked at him like he was insane. "I am a part of you that was removed. I am the memory of Jareth, that was why you could never remember anything… I know because I'm part of you again. You feel it too right?" She cried like a child and nodded her head.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Don't go…" Jared smiled at her, both still forehead to forehead.

"I'm not leaving you. I'm just… going home; Where I belong." And the remaining piece that was Sarah rushed back as if never removed. She sat on her knees and held herself as she wept. Memories she'd forgotten as new in her mind was the day they were made. Her first encounter with Jareth and her trials as she traveled the length and depth of Labyrinth; the castle beyond which held her brother, a baby that had been stolen from her. She cried for things she'd forgotten and locked away, things that young Sarah could not have ever remembered or understood. Things which pained her… She had lost more than her child-like dreams after her encounter with Labyrinth. She'd given up her dreams of being in the theater… dreams of normal grown up women were beyond her because somewhere inside her, she feared that those dreams might rear up to take control of her life like it had so long ago…

"I'm so sorry…" She remembered once more that Toby was gone and then she'd remembered the witch. That woman in white that told her she could go no further. The woman Sarah was sure had taken her memory… Mizumi… Queen of Moraine. She'd said she would take Jareth and the Goblin city… but if that was right Toby was in the Goblin city and…

"Oh dear god, what have you done Jareth?" She spoke his name with annoyance rather than hatred. He taken so much and she would never allow him to steal from her again. Whether it was time or even simple thought… he would not rule over her.

Running her hand threw her hair she recalled a major notion she'd wished was not true. Jareth had said Toby was the new King of Labyrinth and if the witch wanted Labyrinth… what would she do with a king she had no use for? Earth History would prove that if Sarah didn't hurry, Toby would be dead at the hands of a mad woman.

"How can I get to Labyrinth… How can I save Toby… What do I do?" And as if it had never been clearer she cleared her throat and took in a deep breath.


	23. Chapter 23 Return to Labyrinth

Toby stopped dead in his tracks. In the small of his back and the nap of his neck he got the sudden surge of being needed somewhere else. Like he'd forgotten something and if he didn't do it now, all hell would break loose. As such, Toby turned on his heel and returned to the room he'd just left. He couldn't ask anyone for help. Hana was so angry with him having ignored her for so long… Moppet couldn't be found… The only person he could ask for help was Sarah and he had no way of getting to her. He was unable to leave Labyrinth unless summoned.

"Dammit. What the hell do I do…? Sarah…" He felt an odd sensation down on his feet and he glanced down. If took a moment to realize that what was happening was not normal. From his feet he was dispersing into a thin smoke; like he was some kind of incense and was just going to burn out. "Shit, Shit. Ah…. Fuck! Ah….Skub, come here!" From the door a smaller door opened and the tiny goblin which had once taken Toby's homework came in. He looked confused for a moment and realized what the King was having issues with. "Make it stop!" Toby tried to brush the smoke away, but that helped in making him disappear faster.

"I can't do anything. I've seen this before, but I was told not to say anything… but that was the last King and he's not here no more so…" The tiny goblin rubbed his head and Toby could have thrashed him.

"Just tell me for crying out loud or I'll tip you head long into the bog of eternal stench!" Toby had heard Jareth use the curse before and it worked just as well now as it did then.

"Ah well! You're being summoned; Someone is wishing for your presence. You can't really stop it. You'll have to go eventually… bad things can happen if you don't." Skub leaned on one leg and sighed.

"Well how the hell do I come back?" Skub straightened up and shook his head.

"I have no idea… Never seen a return trip to Labyrinth…" Toby could have cried, but the smoke had already eaten all the way up to his neck and the rest was going fast.

"Fuck!"

.

.

Sarah choked as a mass of mangled clothes came tumbling in from her closet. She screamed and picked up a vase to beat whoever or whatever it was. She was surprised with the swearing and the voice caught up with her tangled mess of memories and thoughts.

"Toby?" Sarah moved closer to help and watched as Toby stood up and straightened out clothes that reminded her too much of Jareth.

"Sarah? What the hell? You summoned me?" Sarah almost started crying again. Jareth had told the truth and her brother was now the King of Labyrinth.

"What have you done? Look at you! You disappeared and became the forsaken King of Labyrinth! What is wrong with you?! Do you have any idea how much I've been worried you stupid ass!" She stalked over to him and punched him repeatedly in the arm then collapsed into shaking fits, her tears soaking into his chest.

"I was told I can't leave unless summoned… like you did just now." She thought about it and it made a sick kind of sense. Jareth had come when she'd wanted Toby taken away once… or so Jareth had said.

"And becoming the Goblin King? What about that?" She stood back up and held him by the shoulders peering into his eyes like she was trying to make him burst into fire.

"Jareth made me his heir and to be honest… it didn't sound that bad. It's not that bad, I like it… you shouldn't be so upset about something you gave up. Plus… I'm not King yet…. Coronation is coming up soon though… Can you come?" She resisted the urge to hit him. She'd resisted Jareth's offer for good reasons. Jareth was a bloody child kidnapper… even if she no longer completely understood them now, she was not going to help Toby become some King of the Goblins.

"You could have sent a goblin to see me… tell me you were alright. Instead I follow after you and that witch takes my memories and I'm unable to help." She finally caught up with what she was supposed to be doing now. "Toby, the witch, the queen of Moraine… She's evil; she's the one that took my memories. Jared… he's gone now and he was a physical memory container or something…" She continued rambling and Toby was simply lost. All he heard was that Sarah thought Mizumi was a bad guy.

"Woah woah woah… Sarah, Mizumi has been helping me to learn magic to take over Labyrinth. She's a good guy… Maybe it was someone else doing this… It makes a little sense that something is up. Hana and Moppet… Oh!" Toby thought about Sarah's twin and almost slapped himself. "Sarah! Shit, there's a girl in the castle that looks exactly like you… more tanned though… she looks lively." Sarah hit him. He'd always made fun of the fact she was pale.

Sarah looked on him suddenly as if she'd seen the grim reaper standing behind him.

"You said there is a girl in Labyrinth that looks, just like me?" Her head ached as she tried to think… But Jareth seemed to have his memories of her… She couldn't be a memory like Jared had been…" Toby led Sarah without notice down the stairs and into the kitchen where he began packing away cans of pop.

"Whose Jared… oh shit…" Sarah looked down and smoke rose up. "I'm being summoned again… Twice in one day huh; I must be important."

"Toby, keep your head on straight. I'll explain quickly. Jared was the phys-i-cle con-tain-er of my mem-or-ies. He was my memories… He and I are one again though and I can remember everything. Tell me how I can get to Labyrinth." Toby scratched his head.

"I can send Skub… He knows his way around. He's nice to and not too ugly." Toby laughed and Sarah couldn't believe he was taking everything so lightly.

"When you go back, don't you dare tell a thing to that woman, the Queen Mizumi. Don't breathe one word of it. Lie because I know you can do it very well, but make it believable." She spoke fast as the smoke began eating away at his chest.

"You're coming to Labyrinth? You'll make it for my coronation then?" She nodded completely exasperated with him.

"Not a word Toby. Send Skub and make sure he speaks to no one. Make it an order even and don't let him take me right to the castle. I need to be outside the city when I come and… keep your friends close." She swore because she'd not gotten to finished what she wanted to say before he was gone. She wanted to say to keep her twin close, but she'd not had the time and his friends could help keep him safe. Her friends had done so and she wondered if she could find them again.

"I need to pack some stuff for this trip." Sadly she could think of little that would help her out and a heavy forbidding feeling of the future hung heavily on her. She knew with the instincts born to women only that time was running out quicker than was best. Sadly she would have liked Jareth to be here as he knew the Labyrinth best… but he was so hard to deal with, like a stubborn child. And he'd left. Not only her house, but Labyrinth and his Kingship… What has happening in the Goblin World? He'd left her so little to work with… because if she tried to take Toby back while Jareth was missing, the goblins would simply take Toby themselves… that she was sure of. Labyrinth needed it's King and that was Jareth as much as she hated to think about it.

"Like he'd help me after thirteen years of brooding on rejection… eck." She slammed the box of beads she'd kept for costume making when she still considered theater as a prospect. She'd bribe her way through Labyrinth and for help if she had to.

"I don't need Jareth to get in the way." Old words spoken from an old man that had seemingly been witless came back to her. Fresh as the memories were she rubbed her finger where she'd once wore the ring she'd bought that wisdom with.

" Sometimes young woman it seems like we aren't getting anywhere, when in fact, we are. Sometimes the way forward is the way back and the way backward is the way forwards."

"Goddammit."


	24. Chapter 24 Hope And Heart

Toby was sent head over heels as he reformed in a room he'd not seen before. He did know enough it was in the castle though. Most the rooms looked rather similar besides the fact this one looked far more feminine…

"Ah Toby my boy, I heard you had left and could not be found. I was lucky to have searched for you hard to have you summoned you back. You had your subjects and I worried… where did you go?" For the first time Mizumi's voice sounded rather fake. That Sarah had asked that she remain unmentioned and that the Queen now asked about his very thing just minutes before set him off.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. I wound up in some kids room. Must have been a spoiled little runt, had toys all over that I knew were too cheap… as much as that was, he asked me to make his family closer… I don't know what I did, but… I think I might have managed it somehow… maybe I should have taken him to Labyrinth… Worked once, no?" Toby grinned like a child that thought he'd done the best thing in the world. The grin was enough to make the queen sick or so irate that he managed the feat without her that she bought it and asked no questions. Sarah got what she asked for.

"I'm so glad… It seems you have learned more in my presence then I thought before." She smiled somewhat distractedly and glided over to him where she rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Tell me Toby, have you seen the late King since he left? I wonder if perhaps he's run away and become a hermit… no one has been able to bring him home…" She leaned over slightly as if in a state of weakened health.

"No I haven't… now that you mention it… He'd said he'd come back… I'm rather… unnerved by his absence. If you find him please send for me, please?" The queen of Moraine smiled and nodded.

"Of course. You're coronation date has been set. Did you know? You've little time to prepare mentally or physically, but I'm sure you will manage with style." Toby turned the color of papyrus.

"When is the coronation set for? I didn't think it'd be all that soon…" Somehow he'd been infected with his sister unease and was rather put-off with the sound of having little time.

"Three days… I'm looking forward to the event, but I have ill news. My daughters will be unable to attend… I will be sending them back to Moraine for a period of time. I do hope you will not be upset with my presumptions…" He nodded and she released his shoulder. He'd not noticed the weight she'd actually placed on his shoulders until she moved away.

"Three days is not much… if will excuse me… I will… um retire to my room for the night. If you need anything please do as you wish. I'd like to prepare myself as best as possible." Mizumi walked Toby to the door and closed the door behind him. He instantly ran down the hall once he'd turned the corner and slammed his door when he'd come in.

"Skub!" Instantly the little toady-like goblin scampered in and tripped before Toby's feet. Toby helped him up and bent down to reach just ears. "I have a matter than only you can manage. Will you take on my mission?" Skub took on the brightest smile and revealed uneven teeth.

"Yes, yes! Anything for the future King Toby!" Skub was almost jumping with excitement.

"Great, now listen closely, because only you can do this for me. If you succeed… I'll make you my personal valet with loads of perks… Firstly… are there any other goblins in this room?" Skub took the hint of secrecy and shook his head. No other Goblin was housed in his room that might be able to overhear what he was about to say.

"What will you have me do?" Toby took in a deep breath and thought carefully.

"I need you to tell me if there is any way to bring a human girl directly to the outer gates of Goblin city." Skub thought a moment and jumped with excitement.

"Yes, yes. I can do this. Who is it you'd have me pick up?" Toby though what it was Sarah wanted and what she wanted most was to be anonymous.

"There is a woman living in the house I was staying in before I'd come here. You remember it?" The toad-goblin almost convulsed with joy and nodded brightly. "I need you to bring her and her alone to the outer gates and make it so no others know about it. Not goblin or queen or messenger. Nothing that can speak must know you brought her into Labyrinth." Skub smacked his hand into his chest and stood straight as if to make himself look bigger. He failed miserably, but Toby thought he was the best man… er, Goblin for the job.

"When do I go your majesty?" Toby stood back up and stretched out his back.

"Go when the castle is its quietest and when the least goblins wander the halls. You must be invisible and as silent as shadows. Do you think you can do this?" Skub saluted Toby and clapped his heels together. Labyrinth was such an odd place and Toby realized just how much. A boy in only his teens was commanding a city and realm as if he was the boss on the school ground… It suddenly felt over his head and Sarah had brought him back down to earth.

"Will do your majesty." Skub scampered away and walked along walls and pillars… he was ten times more suspicious then he was before and Toby wondered if this was going to work in the slightest.

.

.

In Mizumi's room she opened a door hidden within the walls and walked in the darkness for what seemed to go on forever. She reached a cross road and turned to the right and followed it before it turned steeply down and the air grew colder. As if she'd remembered the inside working of the castle itself she stepped out of the castle into the lower and dark parts that turned into iron fenced rooms. She had entered the dungeons though highly unused as they were she followed a steady path until near the end a light shone.

"Mother, why did you have me put in here? I didn't mean to get caught… It was that _girls_ fault." Drumlin sat with her fat rolling over more fat. The unfortunate fact that the girl sucked the moisture out of anything didn't help to keep a girl skinny unlike her sister. Her shirt and pants cling tightly around her waist and the chest seams were pinched on the verge of bursting.

"Where is Moulin?" Drumlin shrugged at her mother's question. She was a girl that didn't care for much, but did not go against her mother's wishes, ever.

"Fair enough. I'll deal with you first…" Mizumi took out a ball that was purple like Drumlins shirt. It was dark as if clouds of toxic fumes resided inside the orb. She whispered into the orb and it slowly began to evaporate as all ablations did. Inside the cell Drumlin stepped away in fear as her fingers glowed dimly and floated away into a fine mist which connected to Mizumi's in thin strands of ethereal light.

"Mother? What are you doing? Stop…" The queen of Moraine did not answer her 'daughter's' call. In fact, the Queen of Moraine had no children as the only man she would have, rejected her for a small slip of a girl whom thankfully in turn rejected him. Retribution was so sweet. The children that Mizumi claimed to have been her very own ablations. Drumlin was her 'hope' which she had lost to Jareth and set aside when the pain of it became too much. Moulin was Mizumi's 'regrets'. Another think smashed by Jareth and which she'd stored away, but always kept close. Thankfully ablations had two workings, depending on how the user plans to wield them. Mizumi simply wanted peace of mind. She planned on possibly using Jareth's ablation in the other manner… if he chose to not work with her and become his. All of which would be all the sweeter with hope and the clearing or personal regrets and they were many.

In the cell nothing more remained of Drumlin than the heat from the chair she'd once sat, now empty and dark. Moulin was much easier to find than Drumlin in some ways. A trail of water which rained down on her like Jareth had. How ironic Mizumi's hope had been great in size and her heart crush and washed out. Perhaps the cloud rained down tears and not just water... This too would make much sense. Defeated for the moment as her other child had been elusive, Mizumi decided to wait in her own room. Perhaps she would visit Jareth again in the three days before the coronation. Tease and taunt him the whole way into submission

As Mizumi made her way back up the winding path she come down the shadows behind her shifted only for a moment. A pair of feet paused to watch her leave and then a darkened head looked into the room where once her 'sister' had sat. Moulin had no intentions of being reabsorbed. She didn't care that she was some kind of ablation or whatever, she felt like a real person. She had hopes, dreams and a will of her own. These things could not be taken away with the simply words spoken into spelled crystal.

"Where do I go… Mother will have everyone in Labyrinth looking for me now… the castle is no longer a safe haven…" She wondered if the King would aid her escape if she revealed her mother's twisted plots… Although she didn't really care for the human boy, though she was honest about helping him in hindsight. Sadly she'd never made it to his rooms… She'd have to leave right from here and exile herself outside Labyrinth. Moraine was no longer safe either and few other realms lay in-between which would house her willingly. The armies of Moraine where unmatched by many and would simply submit if she drew her wrath on them. Then again… Labyrinth itself was the manifestation of the Goblin King need to keep Mizumi out… or so it was said. Too many things to think about and none of which were wise to ponder in the dungeon.

"I have to go… I'm so sorry Drumlin… I did not know." She felt ill, it had been her that lead the other goblin's to Drumlin and then did not show up on time herself. She'd stopped to gather information from the little fairy Drumlin had tried to crush with Moppet.

"Moppet…" Moulin wondered about Mizumi's change in tactic against the girl and figured there were few things that girl could be. Human was not one of them. Mizumi had gone from ordering Drumlin and herself to watching her closely to removing her from the situation. Lastly they'd been ordered to be captured at all costs…


	25. Chapter 25 Forbidden

Past her house the entire world outside no longer existed and Sarah feared that if she opened her door to check she would disappear. Every little creak that made a sound in her house made her call out for the goblin Toby promised would come for her. Then there was the matter of what she was actually going to do once she got to Labyrinth…

"Hoggle, Didymus, Ludo… Will you still be there when I come back? Will you remember like I do you?" She swore she would break Jareth herself if he harmed them for having helped her. As she stared at the corner of her couch, expecting life's meaning to jump out at her, she wondered if they even cared. They had been the first thing she'd stopped from coming to see her when she decided to blot out Labyrinth. When she told them she couldn't see them anymore they had seemed to understand with a sad kind of comprehension. It had taken almost a year to not cry when she thought of them. Her father and step-mother had thought it was just the growth of a teenage girl… gods had they been so terribly misinformed. In thirteen hours Sarah had aged more in mind then she figured her body could ever catch up with.

Thinking absentmindedly she set her hand down on the couch and touched something clearly not material; she took her hand back quickly. Before her stood the small and ugly form of what she could assume was Skub. She'd forgotten just how misshapen some of the goblins could be and this one had to be the best looking one she's witnessed.

"You must be Skub?" She leaned over and the small goblin removed his hand from his head which he'd been saluting and twiddled his fingers.

"You must be a sorceress… and you even called my name out." He seemed way too happy for having his name said that Sarah stepped away slightly. "First the King and then strangers… I'm so happy…" Skub squealed in joy and convulsed with what looked to be complete satisfaction.

"Yes, Skub. Now I know you said the King sent you here. Can you tell me what he's said to you?" Sarah discerned what the goblin said and figured out Toby had left her self rather vague. To her surprise she was rather impressed and bent down to hand the goblin a glass bead.

"This is a gift for you, for having come. You will get more when I reach the outer gates of the Goblin city. Do you like it?" Skub turned an odd shade of red and hugged the gem that was like a medium rock in his small hands.

"I like it. I mean… I love it! A gift and a mission… what a glorious day! And then when I get back I'll be his majesty's valet and I'll use my gifts to make my coat very fine…" Sarah listened to his rambling as she peered at his 'coat'. She had rags she used to clean oil from her car that were cleaner than his clothes.

"Ok. When can we leave?" Skub looked back at Sarah and jumped down from the couch.

"Right now?" He took a few steps away and when he realized Sarah would follow him, he continued. He stopped in front of her front door and looked at the knob which was easily two feet too high for him. Sarah hid the chuckle in her throat as he stared like his skull might open it up; she opened the door herself. Standing a moment outside the door she looked up the street which was oddly clear of all people. She feared being seen walking down the road with what could pass as a very ugly breed of dog that had been beaten beyond healings and reconstructive surgery.

"So how do we get into Labyrinth from here?" The goblin swung around with his fingers to his curled and crackled lips, he hissed for her silence. She rolled her eyes, but the creature either didn't know about insults like that or simply didn't care. It wasn't until a short while that she noticed Skub would stop once in a while on the street and look at a broken watch. Despite that he would look at it intently and wait a few seconds before continuing and whether the watch was fixed to work in some other manner, not once did Sarah come across the path of other people.

Thankfully enough the rain had ceased to fall like it had before. The ground had mostly dried and the air smelled like it had been washed clean of all human scents. It was nice… she had the sense of almost being free from outside influences. Winding up the streets where the road would soon stop at the base of a small hill where only trees grew beyond it. A single tree stood sentry at the top which make her think of the first sights of labyrinth.

"Skub, what is Labyrinth like now? How did Jareth rule over the years?" It was an odd question, but she only knew of the baby thieving man and not the King himself. She might as well ask; it would be interesting to hear about the castles workings from an outsider's perspective and from an outsider's mouth.

"I liked it. I've almost always been a castle keep, but after today, a King's Valet." He squealed again. "I've worked there for almost 90 years. 89 to be exact. I've seen lots because no one thinks I'm good for anything so they overlook me… I used to be a soldier you know." His voice dimmed slightly and she actually felt sad for him.

"I'm sure you're the best worker there… So what kind of things have you seen? What kind of big events have happened in your time in the castle?" This seemed to ease his mind as he spoke of Toby's announcement as the Heir to Labyrinth and the Queen of Moraine's unexpected visit. She was shocked to hear that Hoggle had attended the gathering in the castle.

"Why did Hoggle come to the castle?" She could only assume that Jareth had been cruel.

"We'll, he's Prince of the Land of Stench. Jareth had promised it to him when…" He trailed off suddenly and paled.

"When what?" She stopped and leaned over. She might be going to play in Jareth's court, but that didn't mean she'd been training for it. Every day she'd wondered if he'd be there. In thirteen hours he'd set to cross over his entire realm and at the end had let her leave. She'd not expected him to simply leave her alone… not when he claimed what he had…

"Not allowed to talk about it. The King decreed that if any speak about it… they will be punished to life in an oubliette." He had to be kidding… She was glad she was coming as an unnamed face rather than Sarah… these people thought she was some kind of plague by the sounds of it… At least that's how Jareth made her out. What a child he was…

"We'll he's not King anymore is he?" Skub looked at her like she'd said something horrid about his mother, but then his face eased.

"I guess you are right… it's just… he's always been my King… I'm unsure how things will be now in Labyrinth… Toby's seems like he'll be a great King though… it's just an odd change after so long." She grinned. She couldn't help it… Sarah always knew her brother was a monster, but a goblin… the King of them? She chuckled.

"So… about Hoggle?" Skub twiddled his hands and kicked his feet for a moment, but relented.

"Jareth had said that if he ever kissed 'her' that he would make him the prince of the Land of Stench, sure enough. Now he's the Prince and obviously received an invitation to the Heirs initiation party." Now she was interested… Her past in Labyrinth was much more known than she'd though… but she was known only as 'she or 'her' from what Sarah could tell.

"Who is this 'her' character?" Skub tripped and slammed head long into the dirt. He picked himself up quickly and stared at her.

"Ah… she is… well she was supposed to be our Queen… She declined though and it was made forbidden to mention her ever." Skub bent over closer to her and she bent down to listen.

"After she left… it's said Jar-, I'm mean the King, lost control of Labyrinth until he made a deal with the witch… The Goblin's rose up against him as they thought he'd lost his powers… Labyrinth had begun to suffer some hardship…, but when he came back he was fine and was able to fix all that had gone wrong with Labyrinth and the Goblin City. Things cleared up after and have been good for almost 8 years. Then a week ago or so Jareth named his Heir and disappeared…" Sarah stood up and loosened the collar of her shirt. She knew just where he'd gone when he'd 'disappeared' and then she'd thrown him out. Hearing her story without biased she could understand why both Jareth and the people of Labyrinth had no liking for her. In their eyes she didn't like herself much either.

"So Jareth's returned and is helping Toby now…" She cringed with the thought of fighting it out once more with Jareth over her brother. She was glad Toby was almost an adult and she was no longer a child herself.

"No… He's still missing." Sarah swallowed the quickly growing lump in her throat.

"Dammit… Ok… Tell me this then… Who _is_ the Queen of Moraine and what is she like." She would sap every amount of knowledge out of this goblin to get the upper hand. She wasn't going to be tossed around and pushed into corners like she had last time she'd gone into Labyrinth for her bother.


	26. Chapter 26 Warnings

Inside the dank cell which Mizumi had placed the late King of Labyrinth, Jareth sat with crossed legs on the floor, once in a while he'd shift to change positions into a slightly less uncomfortable one, but it wasn't like sitting on the floor was beneath him. It was just as it was; uncomfortable.

"Do you know what uses an ablation has Jareth? Do you know exactly what can be done with a piece of one that has been severed?" From the shadows the willowy figure of the Queen of Moraine stepped into light. No longer robed in white she wore thin veils of light blue and silver. Small gems hung sown into the gown which sparkled and shone when they were caught in the thin beams of light. From the ground shrouded in shadows his slight frown was invisible.

"I'm sure I could wager that you would tell me anyways…" He was not amused. Her laughed sent an unpleasant shrill of cold down his spine.

"Pity you have nothing left to wager… But you are correct. I will extend my hospitality and inform you. Perhaps you know more than just the one?... Could that have been why you have knowledge of your dear Sarah that you'd not have had before?" Again she laughed, but it was low and without love of any kind.

"Not so much. I asked her as straight as you sent me to your prison. Should you have the chance to confer with her perhaps you'll find out why I'd prefer a woman barely grown to yourself…" His words matched her, cold and aimed to maim and disarm.

"I see. Then I will inform you of what uses I still have for your girl-child should you find it in your interests to cross me. As you know very well, an ablation is mainly used to remove an aspect of one's self they feel better erased. As such something like this cannot be erased, merely removed. You should be happy Jareth, I returned with no harm done, the ablation I made for her. It was to remove her memories of 'you'… Just as I removed your 'love' for her… Such a pity. But I've not let her off the hook nor have I you for that matter. Should I destroy your ablation without returning her to you… the consequences could be severe… you could die… or that which was taken can never be reborn. So your love for Sarah… will never been again." Mizumi bent down and sat on a stool just out of reach of Jareth should he have chosen to move. "Also… if any ablation is similar to another person such as the striking likeness between Sarah and your very own personal ablation… should Sarah so much as touch her all that the ablation is will be transferred to her. That means that love which you had or have for her will be completely understood by her… On the down side… should the maker of such end the ablation during this transaction… Sarah would die. Mark my words Jareth… I would have no issue removing Sarah from the picture if you will not bow to me in turn. I see no down fall in allowing your love for her die aside from making you kneel to me slightly harder." A single jewelled finger reached out to him and touch his cheek and slide down to his chin.

"You play a dangerous game. Have you found the Pathmaker yet…? I doubt it seeing as you've yet to gloat about your triumph over Labyrinth. So even past the 13 years you've failed to gain Labyrinth and its King." His laughter forced a red flush to rise to the Queens own cheek. Her hand which had so softly touched his skin slapped him harder than a whip to a bare back. His face reeled to the side and as if his own head was too heavy he looked back to her with a malicious grin. "What a pity…" Before her own plans were set ablaze with rage she stormed from the cell and slammed the door. From outside Jareth could hear the low chant of Mizumi's henchmen and guard Esker before the click of her heels echoed off into silence.

"You make a bad enemy of my lady." Jareth did not answer and ignored the throb in his jaw and the ache in his arms as they remained pinned behind him to metal stake and chain.

"I had no intentions of making an enemy, but if I must be one, might as well play the part well…" He had no amusement in his voice. Jareth had no idea what Mizumi had done to warrant such a man such as Esker, but his motives and prospective never wavered.

"I do not care what harm may come to you, but it would be wise to please my Lady. It is in your best interest and the girl's interest that you do so. The Queen can be… demanding and harsh when things do not go she so plans…" Jareth scoffed and opened his mouth to stretch out his jaw.

"Sharing wisdom? Tell me Esker, why do you serve Mizumi so piously? What makes you serve her so willingly?" Esker never once looked into to make conversation; he spoke from where ever he was outside the door.

"Everyone has a price."

.

.

Sarah didn't like what Skub had to say about the Queen of Moraine. She was a thousand times crueller than Jareth and twice that in ruthlessness. She had three days to do something and make things right. Sadly she had no idea what that meant. Mizumi had a plan that Sarah knew nothing of, Jareth remained missing and Toby had to play his part as the new King of Labyrinth. Then there was the matter of the girl that looked like her... she didn't get the girls name, but she'd not mistake anyone that so much as resembled her.

"Damn him…" Sarah cursed her brother's lack of intelligence when he'd first gone to Labyrinth. He'd played into Jareth's hands and now it was up to Sarah to save him.

"Shh…" Skub huffed in annoyed silence. They climbed up a hill towards the single tree. It was bare off all leaves and the cold breeze which blew now made this trip seem ill started. She almost sighed again when the goblin disappeared into a bush and thrashed around. After a moment of stillness she heard his curse and he came out of the bush while brushing dirt off his shirt.

"Who'd leave something like this laying around? I didn't even see it till I was almost tripping over it…" He pointed to a small clear ball and walked over to kick it she picked him up to stop him before he got even close.

"Don't do that. Don't touch that thing." Sarah realized it for being one of Jareth's play things and wouldn't risk so much as laying a finger on it. Nor would she give him the satisfaction of leaving it here so he could claim it back.

"Put me down, put me down…" She let him down and started rummaging through her bag. "What are you doing now?" He looked at her with interest and all but forgot he'd been irate with being hefted around suddenly.

"This…" She bent over with a wash cloth she'd brought with her and picked up the crystal. It gleamed dimly and she was glad she'd been right. It seemed to her its magic would only work once touched… "Perfect." She tossed the ball into a side pocket, a smug look on her face. The last time she'd been stupid enough to touch something of 'his' she'd almost lost herself to a dream…

Even know she remembered this event most of all. The lights, the clothes, the singing and dancing… Jareth. Everything danced in that dream. It was the kind of dream that would never willingly come, more a daydream where the dreamer had complete control. Laughter and fun, dancing and a Cinderella setting. It was a beautiful and a painful memory for which both reasons made her wish to forget them, but no matter how many toys she'd thrown out and times she tried to grow up, that memory would never fade… A twisted memory of beauty held in the grasps of a man with whom seemingly didn't hear the word 'no' enough.

This got her thinking on something which made little to no sense… Jareth had said he'd played the role of the Goblin King from her story. Fashioned himself to be the bad guy so she could be the princess she'd dreamed of being. If all that was true then how was it that with a few words she over powered him? What had made it so; that he could no longer try and beat her? What did those words have over him?

"You have no power over me…"

Did he ever?... Was this elaborate plot of his to bring them to this moment in turn? Was all that lay in the past to bring them to the present? If so, what was her part, her role? Was this all pre-organized… Suddenly she felt ill. She knew very well that Jareth was capable of making her do much to what he wanted. He'd taken Toby has he'd wanted and she'd wanted, She traversed Labyrinth as the Heroine as they'd both wanted... only the end result made no sense. Why go through all of that to fail?

Why come to her home and leave so oddly?

Why did someone take her memories?

Why Toby as the Heir to Labyrinth?

Sarah took the crystal ball back from her backpack and stared at it, still without touching it. For just one moment she left her finger hovering over its unclouded depths and wondered. Did he want her to use this magic now or later?

"Should I or shouldn't I?" Using all the nerve in her to do what she thought was right she touched the soft curve of the crystal and it shone with bright light. Jareth's voice sang out as if she stood right beside her.

"Go back Sarah…"

She'd heard this once before. God's it was like she'd walked back in time…

"Go back before its too late…"

There was a pause but she could tell the message was not finished.

"Should you come and give chase… I warn you. I will not…"

And it ended, the message stopped. Whatever Jareth had said had been cut off and she took little heed in being threatened. She would not go back just like she would not go back last time he told her to. She would not be mollycoddled like a child and listen or hang on Jareth's every word. She would give chase and walk away unscathed just like before and he would be the lesser for it.


	27. Chapter 27 Inside Labyrinths Walls

A tingling sensation ran up Jareth's arm as magic once used returned; what magic it was he was unsure of. Needless to say he cringed at the thought that Mizumi had found and broken the Pathmaker. He would know soon enough. There was little to do in the small area he was held in. The cold walls kept him closer company then many and his mind had plenty time to wander… this was the heaviest setback to uninterrupted time. As boredom set in with the chill of spelled stone and steel his thoughts traveled back to the house he'd spent more pleasant time than anywhere else. His lips moved to her name, but he would never dine to say it out loud.

Years, decades and centuries as Goblin King had taught him to keep what was closest farthest away. There would always be those which would take what was dear and twist it into sharp thorns and barbed words. So as the lessons hit hard, he forgot to care for anything aside from kingdom and crown. Until of all the wishes and dreams he'd heard, seen and dreamt as if his own, only hers where different. Painted with vivid colors and such heartfelt longing it was impossible to not feel what she felt. Longing for a world that was not hers, that she could wander, conquer and tame. Creatures like those in her books and tales where she would feel pain, sorrow, loss… most dreamt only of pretty things, simple things. She dreamed of worlds and as if her own dream had spun truth, her dream touched him across different skies and infinite oceans where star light might never even reach. She dreamed of an adventure… of dangers untold and hardships unnumbered… and when the Goblin King himself woke from her dream, he realized his pulse thundered in his veins and that he also wished for adventure. Not only adventure but the woman who painted worlds, spun dreams and stood at the center of it all… he would only have it that she would stand next to him. This dreamer of dreams from which Underground was made and no one; not even himself could unmake… but a King is always forced to make decisions he may regret even if right.

Jareth allowed his mind to drift only slightly. He found if he dreamed of things past, his body ached and the cell seemed unbearably unpleasant. He twisted to loosen tight limbs and tilted his neck to work what he might of the knot that pained him. He was thankful that Esker refrained from speaking much. His mindless banter about his 'Lady' was irksome enough without wondering, worrying and praying that of all things that could, might or worse… must happen, that the small magic's he'd made, remained intact and working in his favour. Or perhaps none of them mattered at all and it was only a matter of time before everything began to crumble… The future was already written long ago on his behalf.

.

.

"This way! Come on…" Sarah turned her neck this way and that to relieve the kink that had formed in such a very small amount of time. She realized that she was not the nimble youth she'd been when she traversed Labyrinth. Could she actually manage Labyrinth went she hadn't even been able to hold a stable breath up a small hill?

"I'm coming…" She knelt down to the little goblin that was pushing at a rock on the side of the hill. It seemed large enough to hide something... If she was going to move it, she'd have to push at it from the side and let it roll away so she set her knees into the ground that was slightly wet and cool and pushed on the rock only to find it was heavier than she'd though; she shoved again. When the rock started to give way she gave it a hard shove and it rolled away from her. What she didn't expect was that there was the hole under the rock and fell head first down into the darkness. Skub stood over the hole a moment as if he wasn't going to follow after her, but when her voice finally died into silence he jumped in after her. The rock rolled back over the hole as if it's had never been moved and no disturbance was left behind to have spoken of Sarah's passing.

Sarah landed on soft ground as if the floor was made of pillows. She was surprised when another something landed next to her and grumbled in Skub's dialect. She was happy to know he was still with her.

"Skub, that you?" He grunted some more and she suppressed a smile despite them both being in complete blackness.

"Of course it is… Who else?" He seemed rather unimpressed with his landing.

"So where do we go from here?" No answer came to her and she thought perhaps he was no longer there then she heard scuffling noises.

"Have to wait." A hard lump formed over her heart and in her throat.

"Wait for what?" She tried to find him by feeling around, but his small form eluded her. Not a few seconds after she'd asked did light filter in brightly from nowhere. It filled the small cavernous like room and she knew exactly what kind of place she was in. This was an oubliette.

"Oh." She wasn't nearly as surprised as she had been the first time she wound up in a hole to be forgotten. That's at least what Hoggle had said. She somehow doubted that now.

"Where is it?" Skub meandered around looking for something and she found it before he did. The small door had been set on the ground and covered with a musty and rather rank blanket. She pulled the blanket away and set the door up right. She found the dent in the wall that the door belonged to and opened it from one side.

"There we go." Skub looked at her astonished when she looked back at him happily. She'd opened it right the first time unlike Hoggle had and she walked out and held the door open for Skub. "Where to next?" Skub looked at Sarah hard for a few minutes, as if there was something about her he'd not noticed before and although he was a goblin he didn't ask about it. He stepped towards the door and looked up at her as he passed her. She only smiled at him before closing the door and walking ahead of him. She seemed more at ease with this world than she had in her own world. Perhaps this is what Skub seen that confused him.

On the other side of the oubliette was a tree trunk and both Sarah and Skub stepped out into bright afternoon light. For the first time Sarah saw the warm orange light of another sun and the exotic smell of another world. She'd not realized these things before and while she could, she took them into memory.

In the distance stood the Goblin City; a place she long thought would she never see again. Around it laid the broken city of the Goblin's and behind her rested the outer wall of the labyrinth, and somewhere below the ground, under the crust of this world slept the Underground. She sighed as she took it all in and then in some small corner of Labyrinth, purposely set aside for obvious reasons was The Bog of Eternal Stench. Even from here she thought she could smell its putrid gases.

"This is good. I can go from here if you'll only give me directions." She looked down at Skub, but he wore a very sceptical look.

"But I-I have to take you to the gate outside the goblin city. King Toby told me so."

"Prince Toby." She corrected him with more distaste then she'd wanted to. "And I don't need to go to the gate now. I can see where I have to go from here." Skub made a very surprising series of strange sounds that ranged from what Sarah assumed where sobs that a goose might make and death moans.

"But K-K… Prince Toby said…" Again he made the odd noises and before he walked over to the tree trunk and kicked it rather viciously before screaming on the ground holding his gnarled foot.

"Tell you what. If you can't go home because I'm not going to the gate, then come with me. I'll give you more gems and I will personally tell Toby how much you've done for me." This seemed to please Skub in a way she was almost afraid to ponder about. He now cried with joy and pulled on her pants leg. She felt like her leg was being humped by a small dog and pushed him lightly away.

"Ok. So it's a deal?" He nodded and she stood back up taking her hands away from his small shoulders. Sarah took bearings, as much as that might help in a world that constantly changed and walked towards the realm of stench were her once irreplaceably friend now stood as Prince.

"Oh Hoggle…" She wondered if he would still greet her with at least gruff joy and not throw her out... the lump in her throat returned and she tried to swallow it down.

"Why do we need to go to the Land of stench?..." Skub did not look impressed.

"I have an old friend there that I need to speak with if I'm to continue what I need to do."

"You have a friend in Labyrinth?... In the Bog of Eternal Stench? " He was rather quizzical about this new information.

"Yes, I've a few friends from Labyrinth… Sir Didymus, do you know him?" Skub walked closer and looked her hard in the face.

"You know Sir Didymus?" He though she had to be lying.

"Yes, tell me, does he still ride Ambrosias?" Her question struck home and he knew she was not a normal human. She was almost like Toby; a human that accepted the world of Labyrinth for face value.

"Yes he does… What is your name? And when did you come to Labyrinth before?" Sarah's smile faded instantly. She'd not given a name to Skub yet and now he asked questions like when she'd last been here. He was catching on to her…maybe.

"My name? My name is… Alice." She grinned on the inside about the joke. She sure as hell felt like Alice in wonderland. "Alice, and I came here once before after chasing a pixie." Sure enough he seemed to buy it and nodded his head.

"Pixies are very troublesome…" She grinned remembering how lovely they'd looked before they had bitten her.

"Let's go Skub my dear friend. We have a mission to complete." She said it jokingly, but Skub seemed to take it seriously. She did not know that the goblin Toby had sent to help her was a failure as a soldier and had been throw in to being a servant as default. Skub took this as a way to redeem him-self and walked behind her with stiff soldier like movements. She took it as another goblin quirk of his and generally ignored it all together.

From here on out Sarah knew she had to be careful. Every creature could be an enemy, even friends could have turned when she thought about it, but she doubted it. The only person she could rely on all the way was her-self. Not even Toby was a comfort if help was what she wanted. She also had a very bad feeling about Jareth's disappearance. She doubted she was going to make it out of Labyrinth with its future King while the late King was absence. That meant… in the long run she would have to find and then confront Jareth once again. But that thought she pushed into the furthest recesses of her mind until it was important.


	28. Chapter 28 The Pieces Begin To Move

The Black Bishop moves into discord

.

Moulin, despite hours of search had eluded capture. Mizumi, Queen of Moraine had taken up her room for that same amount of time pondering where her weakest point now stood. A part of her lay missing; lost in Labyrinth and so far no goblin or other helping hand had found her ablation. Toby also had become an issue to mention. He had become rather isolated since his summons and she had a very good idea to whom he'd been summoned to see. Thankfully a few things still stood in clear prospective. Jareth remained in her palm and she could almost feel the Pathmaker next to him. It was unfortunate that Toby had only two days before he took over Labyrinth and as they waited her massive army prowled the boarders of Labyrinth, ready to invade when she so wished. Everything she wished for was within her fingers touch, except one. Underground remained so much a myth to her that she wondered if Jareth lied of its existence. No blueprint, goblin or anything thing else had any idea of Underground and if they had heard of it… they knew of no place that such a magnificent room might hide.

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The Black Queen moves into the White Queens places

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While inside the decadent room fitted for the Queen of Moraine, her ablation slinked along walls and cowered in shadows as she meandered around the inner keepings of the Goblin City. She assumed naturally that a city was bound to be busy. She was not used to being shoulder checked and squawked at by creatures she could easily have removed from existence. At least she could have so long as she'd remained ignorant of her purpose. Though she had not hated her sister, she'd not actually cared for her. Never the less to watch her disappeared as if she had never been… it had felt as if she'd been punched in the chest.

"Where do I go from here?" In her mind she spoke what words could not said aloud. 'Where can I go that is safe… where can I disappear? Can I even live outside the life I've only known?' Would she find the food needed to sustain her? Would she have a roof over her head when the ground froze and snow fell in heavy sheets?

"Get out of the way missy!" For the millionth time she was shoved hard and almost hit the ground. Moulin turned and almost made it clear as to whom she was. The words died hard in her mouth. She could never say whom she was… not that she was really a person at all… The idea's she turned over in her head as a way to escape the cruellest fate had all turned to ash in her mouth. Mizumi was not one for kindness and had never been. Toby was a King and would soon be so without a crown. Jareth was lost. Not even Moulin knew that Mizumi had taken and hidden him and then there was the girl. The one woman that made all of Labyrinth turn in circles. Passed up a crown, made enemies she'd never heard of and even her siblings were going to fall for it…

"So it's not Mizumi that is cruel… simply fate." Moulin stood in a shadowed corner and watched as the inhabitants of Labyrinth went on as if no rumour of Mizumi's extended visit to the castle existed. Some were so imaginative to think that Mizumi had taken the queens crown next to Toby… Somehow in Moulin's eye they were not too far from the truth.

"Why young girl. Yes, yes young girl. You should come with me. Yes, yes with me. I can show you the things you're missing. Yes yes…" Moulin turned to see the junk pile she'd half hidden behind was a sleepy garbage woman. Many of these weird junk herding people lived in the outskirts of the goblin city. It wasn't surprising Moulin thought that such a woman would try and take her away.

"Yes old woman. I will go with you." The junk woman took Moulin's hand and slowly they walked away from the shadowed corner that was the gate to the Goblin city.

While Moulin travels along with the Junk woman Sarah has passed the outskirts of the Bog of Eternal Stench in hopes of garnering some help from Hoggle who resides as the Prince of the Land of Stench. At her he stumbles the goblin assistant Skub who finds the way impossible to traverse while holding his nose.

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The White Queen moves to win the aid of the White Castle

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"For crying out loud…" Sarah bent down after dowsing a cloth with heavy perfume to help blot out the smell of rancid everything. Skub took the cloth and tied it around his entire face then coughed due to the heavy acrid smell of now too over-powering smells. "Better?" Skub nodded and spoke but it was muffled due to the cloth. She ignored what he said and kept going… Sadly she had no idea which was the correct way. She never seen any building in the bog when she'd last passed through, but then again the trip had thankfully been quick. This time around she could not help but linger.

"Everything looks the same… dammit…" She remembered herself saying just the same thing 13 years before in the labyrinth. She kicked a rock and it stumbled into the water and another memory flashed in her mind. "Ludo…" She mocked his odd speech in her mind 'Rocks friends.'

"Who goes there?" Sarah turned and saw nothing other than Skub and thought she was hearing more from a time long passed, but Skub also was looking around. She doubted her memories where that loud.

"My name is… "She paused and dropped the name. "I'm looking for the Prince of the Land of Stench. Can you help me find Hoggle?" Silence answered at first and she said it again.

"You don't need to scream! Are you out of your mind?" Sarah looked down at the contorted form of what she could only imagine resembled a snake/bird at best. It stood about two feet tall and it made clicking sounds at her feet. "You want to see Prince Hoggle…? Why?" Clearly a human girl looking for a prince of stench was enough to inquire about. So Sarah did what she could think of best.

"I have a message from the King of the Goblins? You dare impede?" That was enough to stop him from questioning her further.

"Come this way… I will show you the way…" Sarah followed the little stench covered goblin into the dark lit halls.

The White Castle moves into defense

"I will accept no visitors or messengers. Send the girl away…" Hoggle sat in his chair fully aware of whom the messenger was. He had no wish to see Sarah. For allowing him to be confined and condemned to the Bog. "She has no right to be here…" He looked idly at the trinkets at his side and fingered them impatiently.

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The White Pawn falls

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Mizumi pushed through the doors to Toby's room open and came inside. Toby sat still at his desk and started at nothing.

"Can I help you Queen of Moraine" For a moment his voice was dark and distant. She ignored it completely and the small grin she'd hidden well over the last weeks broke free on her fair face.

"Yes… and no. You can help by following my orders which will see you kept in better health than not following. Other than that, I doubt it. Jareth would not have said to you anything of importance… and it no longer matters. I have found what I have been looking for. Your thrown… is now mine." Toby jolted up from his chair before heavily armoured arms picked him up. His fear sparked the magic inside and the armour became nothing but cloth, but the arms beneath the armour were still stronger than him and the two goblins brought him painfully to his knees. His head was lifted by the soft cold hands of Mizumi and she leaned closer to him.

"You were useful… for a time. But that use has gone now and you are to be discarded. Labyrinth, Jareth, Underground and the Pathmaker are mine." She took back her hand and pointed to the mirror which he had looked into not long ago. It shimmered like liquid twilight and he was shove head long into it and disappeared.

The White King Falls


	29. Chapter 29 Black Queen Takes Labyrinth

There was no light. There was nothing to touch, nothing to feel but the cold; it was everywhere. Inside the hands that let everything slip between tightly clenched fingers. Inside the head that remembered everything while others may have forgotten. Within the body that refused to feel anything… not warmth, not the dank cold of stone walls, nothing, because there was no light.

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The White Pawn remembers

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"What the hell is this place?" No one answered him. There was no one there to answer. He could smell the scent of dying things, decay, mould, rust. This created with only time to love it. The degeneration of all things began with time. "Let me out of here Mizumi!" Only silence answered his calls. His sister remained on the outside somewhere. Trying to find a way to bring him home, but he couldn't rely on just her. He'd gotten himself into this mess and then there was Jareth. He'd put him up to this… gotten him into the world of freakish people and lost dreams. A diminished hope; that was all this world was and no one… no one but Mizumi knew where he was. Did she plan to leave him here to rot? "Bitch!" For a moment he thought of Sarah had how even in a situation like this she would scold him for cursing. But she wasn't here.

Toby swore until his voice grew pained and became nothing more than a harsh echo of its self.

"You do not have any power here little prince. This is no longer your realm of Labyrinth. Take care how you insult my Lady." From a door that he'd not noticed before he shouted more obscenities.

"Tell you're Lady that I am no pawn of hers! Tell her I will come for her and I will strip her of whatever realm she owns and make sure she rots in the hells of Underground.

"You know of Underground? Be careful what you say of that place and what you wish of it…" From the other side of the door Esker moved aside to peer in to the other cell from which Jareth rested. Mizumi did not come to taunt the late king since the last. Esker could not see him at all, his figure pushed into the farthest recess of the cell which was shrouded in blackness. The king had not spoken for a long time and Esker wondered if he'd better check on him, but Jareth was not to be trusted and Mizumi would punish him greatly should Jareth ever escape.

"If you still breathe King of the Goblins, Speak. The smallest word will do." And as silence had once answered Toby, it now answered Esker. He feared the King of the Goblins to have done something vile and that Mizumi would burn countless realms over in rage, loss and sorrow. It seemed that there was no longer any King of Labyrinth.

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The Black Knight reveals truths

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"Tell me young boy. Why did you come to Labyrinth? Did you not know you were being used from the beginning or is the Old King really that cleaver?" From inside the cell Toby cupped his fist that now had blood running freely from striking the wall.

"Because I felt free and like I was in the right place… my world is different from yours. Different rules, different people… everything is different. And you have robbed me of that, puppet." Although Esker knew better than to be baited he knew that little jab Toby had taken had a ring of truth. Esker was Mizumi's puppet; willing, unimpressive and always replaceable, but ever at her side.

"So different and yet it shares so much with 'your world'. Esker paused to allow it to sink in. "We share a sun, a sky. The air carries smells between the worlds. Also your sister and Jareth. They travel between the realms. A most difficult thing to do and Jareth all the better at it. Do you really think our world differ so much? It is not… I will tell you some things though… because I feel you have the right to now as one puppet to another. My Lady… she was not always as she is now. She has ripped herself in to a person that is not whole. She strives for much along the same lines that Jareth once did. For the love of another they both sought to take what they wished for with force and thus… pushed the love perhaps, irrevocably away. I know that Jareth has no love for Mizumi. How can he when his heart lies with another. A woman from another world altogether… At least Mizumi loved a man whom understood the working of this world. But Jareth does not see Mizumi, like your sister sees nothing of Jareth and Mizumi of myself. Perhaps the denizens of Labyrinth and its connected realms are not allowed a thing called love. Perhaps this 'love' was something brought from your world and is something we cannot understand at all. This is what I think. But I will leave you to your thoughts. I will let you think of family, friends and perhaps love before Mizumi throws to completely away." Esker closed the door behind him that led to the cells which Toby and Jareth rest. Esker told Toby things that Jareth would want to hear if still he breathed in his hovel. Perhaps his insight would allow Jareth to hold on long enough for Mizumi to see him before his heart died the rest of the way before leaving nothing left but an empty shell. And Esker knew it was happening. From the moment Jareth had stopped trying to bait him, turn him and mould him in to something useful Esker had known that the man was dying.

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The White Queen Stalls

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Far from clean air, hidden from watchful eyes, unsure of anything Sarah stood and waited outside for three days and three nights. She found it impossible that the stench that permeated everything somehow got worse when the sun sunk behind the horizon.

"His majesty will not see you. Please leave." Sarah heard the messengers request and ignored it then sat back down on the ground outside the main gate.

"Oh let her in if it will get her out of my sight!" From inside Hoggle voice carried to Sarah's ear and she stood to push past the messenger she'd dealt with for far too long.

"Hoggle!" Sarah stopped short of picking him up and swinging him. She was no longer a child and he was now a goblin with status. She doubted he would be pleased.

"What do you want?" He grunted and sat down in a chair. The fabric was torn and worn, the air stunk and so did he, but she had expected that. To her, he still seemed like the best thing she'd seen since getting into Labyrinth.

"I need your help." He grunted again at her.

"Figures." She sighed and took in a deep breath.

"Jareth brought Toby to Labyrinth." Hoggle nodded.

"I know. I saw him at Jareth's gathering ball… Toby's grown." Hoggle's voice grew dark with even mentioning Jareth.

"Jareth is gone; Toby has taken the thrown, but only so long as Mizumi needs him. There are things Mizumi needs in order to take over Labyrinth." Hoggle choked and grabbed his own throat.

"Mizumi? Take Labyrinth? That'd be the day…" Hoggle looked bothered though.

"What is it Hoggle?" He did not look at her and allowed his stubborn visage to shine through. He did want to help her or tell her a thing after what she allowed to happen. "Please Hoggle." It didn't take much to tear down his protective barrier. He was weak to her. She was his first friend and she had forgiven many betrayals from him without a second thought… though she never smelled forever because of it.

"The Pathmaker. Mizumi sent word a day ago asking for the location of something called the Pathmaker. Told her I'd never heard of it and she must have figured it out because she never asked again.

"Things seem to be getting worse… I have to hurry and get Toby out of here. I need you to help me, if you will. If you can forgive me." She'd already won him over. He was angry with the fact the she could see it though.

"Oh alright. I don't like sitting here doing nothing anyways. I hate being here. What do you need?" She stopped and said nothing.

"I'm not sure. Jareth is missing, I need to bring Toby home, but I won't be able to do so without Jareth. I know it. If Mizumi wants the Pathmaker, I need to find him first and I need to do all of this while saying under the radar." Hoggle titled his head to the side.

"Radar?" She sighed and shook her head.

"Never mind. I need to do everything without being seen. I need to be invisible." Hoggle could understand why. Just being near Mizumi he'd gotten the impression she implied. 'stay away from me.'

"Hey, hey, hey!" Skub ran up and pulled on her leg and he looked rather frantic.

"What is it?"

"Who is this little thing?" Hoggle poked Skub in the chest.

"Hoggle this is Skub. Skub Hoggle. What the matter?" She knelt down to Skub while he fidgeted with his hands.

"Toby. King Toby is missing. He disappeared from his room a night ago and there are guards at the gate with a message for Prince Hoggle." Skub turned to Hoggle and fidgeted twice as much.

"What do they want?"

"Surrender on behalf of the Queen of Moraine and New Queen of Labyrinth." All three of them fell silent and Sarah started to pull plans out of her head for an escape. She walked over to the window and looked down to the main gate and swore.

"Did they give us a time limit?" Sarah didn't look to Skub.

"They said we had till nightfall." She swore again as she looked at the horizon. There was less than an hour before the sun fell away and worse yet it was not goblins outside the gate waiting to hobble their way in from which Sarah could have dealt with. Outside the gate stood armoured men. Mizumi hadn't taken Labyrinth at all. She had invaded it and both King and Prince, Brother and menace were missing or worse. The only person who would now of their location would be the queen or Moraine and Sarah had no way to get close enough let alone talk to. And who knew what powers Mizumi might have.

"Sarah. What do we do?" Hoggle stepped behind her and she heard Skub's feet shuffle along the ground.

"What did Prince Hoggle just call you?" Skub paled as if he'd seen bleed. Sarah cursed and turned to explain. She'd purposely not told Skub who she was after hearing what Jareth had done with just her name.

"Let me explain. Please…" He backed away from her and clutched his shirt.

"No… You are the woman that the King forbids to speak of and outside…" Sarah didn't want to rush him, but too much was happening far too fast.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to deceive you." He shook his head.

"I knew who you were… Toby said to protect his sister. And I'd heard rumour that when the king queen refused to marry she'd taken back her brother with him to lands beyond reach.' Skub's voice took on an odd tone, like he was possessed. "I know Toby was that boy. I was there when the goblin city was sent to stop you. I was one of the goblins ordered to watch Toby, keep him safe and play with him. I saw you once… and I have not forgotten. But Toby said you were most precious and he would be upset should you get hurt. King Jareth too I think." Skub swayed from side to side and she put out a hand to steady him with she was glad he took.

"What's wrong? What about the men outside?" He looked at her in such a sad way she wanted to do something to make it better.

"The men outside… said that a fugitive is on the loose. Her name is Sarah and any that are found helping her are to be punished to her queens pleasure. They said that those who resist will die and those who resist while helping you… are to be thrown away with their friends, family and others to be tortured or worse. I forgot that you are 'her'. I… do not want to die or get thrown away."

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The White Castle Defends His Keep

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"You're not going to Skub. But you are going to run." Hoggle explained quickly another way out and its dangers. Also that it was unlikely even if Sarah was found that any would follow. It was amazing the deterrent the bog of eternal stench made.

"I'm sorry I lied to you Skub." Sarah hoped he would not hate her enough to give her up.

"It's ok. You're the sister of Toby. I like Toby and he would make a better King then Mizumi. I will help you to save Toby." She allowed herself to shed a tear for Skub and her lost brother.

"Thank you Skub."

"You don't have time for this." Outside the sun began to touch the horizon.

"Hoggle. I'm so sorry." He nodded and pointed for her to leave. "Do you know where Ludo is, Didymus anyone?" Hoggle ignored her and told her to just go, but she couldn't do it. She couldn't leave Hoggle to take the brunt of the damage just for her. So while the men outside grew cold, grew weary and irate with the stench of the bog. Sarah bottled her fear and moved to release her friends from capture, torture and worse. She would not leave them again.

"You don't have to do this Sarah." Hoggle sighed when he realized she had not gone. She nodded and stuck over her hand to take his.

"I know. But I won't leave a friend. Not again. Not like before. We will suffer the same end or the same beginning." She smiled and he knew she must have an idea to win over the 15 men that waited at the gate. He also had a good idea to help and together they ran into the halls to set everything into motion. "Skub, tell me what you know of the woman that looks like me at the Castle. Toby told me about her, but I need to know as much as you know, quickly."


	30. Chapter 30 Of Prophecy And War

"Let me out! Let me go!" No one answered. Toby thrashed violently after waking with his ankles bound to the stone with chains. "Sarah! God dammit it, just summon me! Summon me and take me home! Sarah!" Toby looked down at his fist that throbbed with numbed pain. His palms red from tugging on his restraints and his knuckles bloodied from beating on his cell door.

"You cannot be summoned. You are no longer King or anything of the Goblins to be summoned. You are going to die here… She is going to leave you here to rot."

"J-Jareth…"

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The Black Knight Makes His Consult

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"My lady… I wish an audience with you." From the spelled mirror Esker drew on the powers gifted to him by his contact with Mizumi.

"You dare leave my prize… unattended." Her voice was cold, as it had always been.

"It's about the king that I've called you. There is a problem. I've heard no word from him, no whisper, no breath and I dare not open his cell to check. As you requested. I believe that you should come and check on him before something happens… if it hasn't already." The mirror hissed and Esker wasn't sure it was just from magic speech through a mirror.

"I have a few things to do, but I will come. Do not open the door to his cell." The mirror flickered like rippling water before turning solid. An ordinary mirror. "And find Moulin. I need her returned to me now… Do not fail me Esker…"

.

The White Castle withstand invasion

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"Let them in." Hoggle nearly choked on his own tongue.

"Are you out of you mind?" Skub looked at her like she'd lost a few screws.

"Do it. The sun is about to set." Hoggle hated being left in the dark, but there was no time. Either Sarah pulled off her plan or they all suffered the consequences together.

The main door swung open and Sarah had managed to pull together a small welcoming for the tired soldiers outside. The filtered in before Sarah whom was covered with clothes goblin people wore. Torn rags, barely enough to call clothes in all actuality, but she fit the part.

"Welcome." Sarah remained silent as she held the door open and Skub ushered the men inside. Watching with a pounding heart Sarah eased her jaw into a more relaxed position. It had begun to ache from her clenching in fear.

"We have orders to search every room and every person." As if on cue the men turned to Sarah who was closing the door.

"You. You are not a goblin. Come here." Sarah swore, cursed and all but screamed out loud. She forced her body to walk over to them with steady hands instead of running into a mad dash into the bog outside. She stopped just before the first towering figure clad in metal armour that was like black onyx. She refused to look at his weapon.

"What is your name?" Sarah fought to say the name, but fear rode her. "What is your name?" His voice grew instantly irritated and he gripped the back of her head and under her chin and forced her face up to him. Her hood fell away.

"My name… is." She was yanked by the shoulders as she fought fear. "Moppet. My name… is Moppet." The guard looked at her with no signs of any emotion. His eyes danced over her face and then down and found nothing worthy of his time. He let her go with such force that she almost fell over. She wanted to hit him so badly, but for some reason knew that a woman with her face in Labyrinth would not have been treated kindly so she would be meek and silent. Jareth would have made sure of that. The idea of just because someone had her looks and was treated ill because of it made her so furious and she swore to fix this injustice of it. The whole world and the others connected to Labyrinth were warped and distorted. There was no justice, no right and no wrong. There was just madness.

"Is there anything else that can be brought to you or your men that we may have missed. We did not expect anyone so the stores are bare…" She stammered with a slightly older type of speech and hoped it sounded better than her telling them to 'piss off and get out'. He didn't look at her and simply looked around the room in silence as he picked away at any place that might hide or shadow a person.

"No. My men with search the castle. You will all stay here till the search is finished… but I wonder…" He turned slowly towards Sarah with amusement that bothered her to no end. "What is Jareth's little puppet doing here I wonder?" The lump in Sarah's throat refused to go down and her entire body tightened painfully.

"The Goblin King did not want me in his sight any longer and here I stay. At his wish… of course." The soldier sneered; seeming to take her words as truth.

"Jareth no longer takes the title of 'Goblin King'." Sarah assumed Toby would have taken the thrown by now, but it still seemed like she was missing something very much intended.

"Then the Prince-ling now sits on the thrown?" The soldiers grin tilted into a malevolent smirk.

"Word travels slow in these retched lands so it cannot be blamed if you are behind… But Toby has been overthrown. The lady Mizumi sits on the thrown of both Labyrinth and Moraine now. Make sure that your loyalties do not come to be questioned… My Queen rules with an iron fist."

It took everything in her power to not smack the soldiers face and beat him with anything she could find. But it would do little good. The other soldiers would come to his aid and Sarah would be able to do nothing more. Everything was falling apart. Before she thought finding Jareth would allow her to release Toby from his bonds and Labyrinth. But now Mizumi ruled over Labyrinth. Jareth would go far away and Toby... Gods what would she do to Toby? If she was going to bring her brother back, everything in Labyrinth had to be righted.

And that involved removing Mizumi from power…

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The White Queen Begins to Plot.

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"They have all gone. I counted." Skub almost skipped with freedom.

"Good. Hoggle?" Hoggle glance at her with tired eyes. "We need to set things right. I have to fix them. By the looks of it, Mizumi is either greatly loved or at least her subjects prefer her favour rather than a cell. That means I have a great deal of things to do and I need to know if you would be willing to help me." Hoggle's face was pale and grayish and had been since the soldiers had left.

"Hoggle will do what he can… for his friends." Sarah almost bit back her tears, but let them flow instead.

"Great. I've missed you Hoggle." She laughed lightly for the first time since she could remember. "Because Mizumi cannot keep the thrown to Labyrinth... Which means usurping her. I have to know what kind of ruler she is and I need to know her friends and enemies and whether Labyrinth will fall into step under her rule or will they fight back. Also…" She tied back her hair and paced with her head in her hands while looking aimlessly at the ceiling. "I need to know everything thing there is about the Pathmaker. What he is, what he does and why on earth he is so important to Mizumi and ruling over Labyrinth."

"The Pathmaker? He is the sole goblin that works for Jareth and controls all of Labyrinth. Its walls; its secrets; everything. I do not know what he looks like or where he is, but he would be needed to run Labyrinth. Mizumi has been searching for him for a while now… even while Toby was being schooled to take of Labyrinth. That must mean she'd been planning this for a while… I bet Jareth knew too." Hoggle scowled.

"More than likely, which means he put Toby in this position willingly… Toby…" Hoggle patted Sarah's arm and Skub lowered his head. He missed Toby as well and he thought of one thing. Only one that might help and it might end up being the final string that unchained everything.

"Sarah…" Skub whispered. He still feared the men from before and other things. "Before, when Toby was still going to become the King. Mizumi spoke to him about 'claiming his prophesy'. Prophesies are not to be taken likely. Not in Labyrinth. Every King has a prophesy and Mizumi took Toby to get his. I watched them leave together. So you find the prophesy and it says anything like… 'and all was good' Toby will be king and everything will be fine… but it could also tell us things we will not like and cannot change… We should go to the Hall of Prophesies and find out what it says about Toby.

"It could tell us we have a chance, Sarah. The prophesy of a King has never been wrong…" Hoggle sounded far more hopeful that he looked.

"Or it's going to tell us that saving Toby is hopeless and Mizumi is going to win… Screw it." Sarah cracked her knuckles and paced more before stopping and nearly miss-stepping.

"What else are these prophesies used for? Can anyone get one? How do you get one?" Skub's face contorted into what could pass as a grin.

"You just go and pick one. Anyone… with enough money can recieve one." Sarah grinned too.

"Good. If Toby's future doesn't look to good, then I'm just going to have to warp it for my own liking or burn them all to ash. Whatever I have to…" A plan swirled in Sarah's head and it was going to take time. Perhaps too much time, but if she rushed it, then what ever chance she had of getting back Toby and fixing Labyrinth fell like a rock in a lake.

"Skub I need you to take me to the Hall of Prophesies. Hoggle." She laid most of her plan at Hoggle's feet and hoped to god he did what he could and did it well. She hoped his cowardice had withered over the years. "I need you to gather as many goblins, men, women, creatures from every corner of this realm and others. Enemies of Mizumi and list of her Allies. In other words. I need you to gather an army in secrecy. Mizumi must not know. She cannot find out. We're going to take her thrown and Labyrinth and I'm going to take Toby home and give you back yours." Whatever color was left in Hoggle face drained out, but he nodded fiercely.

"To Sarah!" Skub jumped up and down and Hoggle chanted together with Skub. All that Sarah could hear was her own thoughts.

'I'm starting a war…'


	31. Chapter 31 Fate Calls On The Lost

The White King and the White Pawn bind their fate to each other

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"You will rot. You're sister cannot save you or she might not even try or even be able to come to Labyrinth."

"But she is already here!" Toby knew he was grasping at straws. The Queen of Moraine had thrown Jareth from his Kingdom and Toby knew that now and she had manipulated himself to bide time to find the Pathmaker. Whoever that was remained a mystery yet still. Toby was helpless, hopeless and without a light to even give him the motivation to stay alive. His body worked on anger and with the thoughts of detailed revenge that would frighten his sister if she ever found out.

"You say your sister is in Labyrinth? And how long do you think she would stay alive? Stay safe? Your meddling… no, my meddling and yours have condemned her to death. I'm afraid once Mizumi finds her, if she still remains in Labyrinth or if even she still draws breath, that she will not be doing so for very much longer." It dawned on Toby like a raw punch to the chest.

"Jareth? Tell me that's you." No answer; simply a chuckle sweet with bitterness so palpable he could taste it.

"If I were you, I would pray and as hard as you can for some kind of intervention for your sisters sake. Otherwise she's as dead as you and I both."

For this Toby only laughed; loud and hard. It was ever so clear this man's blindness that he had no choice but to laugh or else be consumed with knowledge he hated having. Toby was getting a crash course in growing-up.

"Then we are all going to die here… you're an idiot Jareth. A real fool. Sarah will come for me, you should have seen the determination in her face when I told her I was going to become a king here… she was going to drag me back if anything else by the nape of my neck and throttle you for putting the stupid idea in my head… ha! Worse off to top it all, she was coming to see you… haha… She was going to face the demon that took her brother and finally rid her-self of guilt and grief. You even stole that from her in the long run too it seems. You're pathetic." Toby laughed more and from the other cell the darkness seemed to shift as if the shadows could no longer hold their own.

"Pathetic… I've sold my soul for things outside my grasp. And for what? For them to be riddled with guilt? That guilt I guess I will never know… I guess my only joy in this failure is knowing Mizumi played you for a better puppet than I did. I retained some sense of self…" Jareth laughed this time.

"I'm just a toy to all of you then? Bastards… I ever get out of this cell and I'm going to hit you and toss that witch from a cliff." Toby sat down on the cold floor. He'd paced for so long that his limbs ached and his hand had swelled from attacking not but stone and iron. "Tell me Jareth… why do all of this? Why take me away and use me of all people? Why now after so long and what's the deal with Mizumi and her kids? God… she really did try to kill Hana and Moppet didn't she…" Chains moved with a jolt from the next cell.

"Moppet was almost killed?" Toby heard something in Jareth's voice that scared him far more than the outlook of death in the future or being in a cell god only knew where. The thing in Jareth's voice was real fear; Real terror.

"Yeah… Mizumi's daughter Drumlin tried to shove them from a tower in the old and decrepit wing of the castle."

"But she is safe? She is unharmed? What of Drumlin, was she injured?" Toby rubbed his face thinking back.

"I caught Moppet with my hands as she fell and Drumlin's fat saved her. She damn well bounced when she hit the ground." Jareth sucked in a tight breath.

"Then we have a chance yet. Mizumi has made the very bad mistake of not rendering your powers useless… must have thought you couldn't do much of anything and with the fear of losing her ablations to death she would have taken them back surely… She tried to kill Moppet..." More chains rattled in the next cell.

"A what?" The word made no sense to Toby at all.

"Don't worry about it. Tell me, did Mizumi say her daughters had returned home for a while or anything about them not being in Labyrinth any longer?" Toby recalled what he'd heard of Moulin.

"Drumlin returned home… Moulin is missing." Jareth laughed most evilly.

"I have no more time to waste in this cell then. With whatever power you have, find a way, make a way out of your cell and do it quickly. I cannot play dead for much longer."

"Jareth…" Toby's voice was solid and barely above a whisper. Young as he was he understood things having gone through more adult obstacles that gave him a better outlook on things. "You never did tell me… Why bring Sarah to Labyrinth? Why steal me now twice over and plot and scheme? What was your goal in all of this?" A single scoff carried into Toby's cell.

"For something foreign to Labyrinth. Something unattainable and more mystic and with more magic than any King of goblins or Queen or magician. Something only from your world does it come. Untainted, pure and unconditional… for this I sold, stole, ruined, tormented… for this thing that in a world of magic no man or woman could manufacture or produce from magic."

"What is it? What could we have in our world that you don't have here? In the world of fantasy?"

In Jareth's black cell he said in a moment of honesty, but not without puzzle, what Toby and Sarah's world had that Jareth's did not. He doubted he would ever be able to say such things even to Sarah if ever he saw her face again. Or maybe he would. He began to hope he might.

"The very thing that drives Sarah to come to your aid. To save you. A version of this thing I would do anything to have; Experience it in all its purity for just one moment. In your world it comes in so many forms and from so many peoples. It gives your strength and makes you weak… From the moment Underground opened up to me, I have seen this thing… and it reflects perfectly in one person alone… Use your imagination to explain the rest. But get us out first. Time is running short if what you have told me is true and we have a very slim chance of fixing all of this." Jareth stood to his full height after having removed the chain from his wrists the moment Esker had left him unattended. "I no longer have Labyrinths powers… that have been bestowed to you so stop thinking of useless things and open the door." Toby could only think that this was the strangest Jareth has ever seen… It was in this almost human moment that Jareth became the magic and Goblin King to Toby.

"What do I do?"


	32. Chapter 32 Seeds of Discord

The White Pawn Makes a Stand

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Toby had never heard Jareth say so much and in such a short period. He wasn't stupid either and swallowed his opinion of Jareth, his motives and everything else involving him. It really didn't involve him in the slightest. What he could do was get them out of the cell and make like a tree.

Sadly that endeavour was easier thought than executed. Toby sat with his hands flailing in odd ways trying to perhaps flick the magic out of him. He knew, or so he thought, that his magic was instinctual and so he couldn't even make light for them to see as much as he tried.

"I can't do it… I don't know spells or anything. The only time magic worked is when Moppet fell. I don't know how to make it work when I want it to." Jareth almost groaned and paced about his cell while he could. Esker would be back shortly and either he was long gone from this place or he returned to his slow death in captivity.

"You are going to die in here Toby. Mizumi is relentless and cruel and she will find you useless eventually and kill you. She will find Sarah and crush her and I can only hope I will meet such a fate. Do you understand? Your life is in danger and you have dragged your sister into all of this." Jareth was being an asshole and Toby had gotten fed up and quickly.

"No, you stupid jackass! You got her into this! You kidnapped me as a child, you made her chase you around this forsaken place of yours AND THEN YOU DID IT ALL AGAIN! You are the one that killed Sarah and I. Not me… now shut up." Jareth was silent and in the darkness of their cells neither could see what the others face looked like in that moment and Toby was more than happy. To be honest, he wanted to be as far from Jareth as he fricken could get.

Then Toby disappeared.

"Toby…" Jareth leaned against the bars to try and see what he might, but the cells could see very little outside their own space. "Toby?" Nothing answered him aside from the clank and heavy rusted swing of the main cell door. Esker had returned once again.

"My Lady will be happy that you are safe. "Jareth grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh my dear Esker… I might be safe… but you are far from." Jareth began to laugh manically and Esker stepped towards the cell.

"Jareth!"

He had disappeared also.

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White Queen seeds Discord

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Sarah had parted with Hoggle despite heavy refusal. She had decided that to get to her goal a list of things needed to be done. The first was sowings mass unease amongst the peoples of Labyrinth. She was trying to get Labyrinth to revolt against the Queen or Moraine. For that she needed someone to inform them of the truth happening in the castle beyond the city. She also decided that finding the Queens errant daughter would be good as well. Sarah didn't want to hurt her, but she wanted her as leverage for Toby… hell, there was a lot she needed and wanted right now.

Sarah paused and looked down at Skub who remained unsure or what to call her. He was torn between calling her 'queen' because she would have been once, princess, because Toby was King, Alice or simple reasons or leaving her unnamed as history and a Kings decree demanded.

"Where are we going now? Don't we need to find your brother and save King Toby?" Skub was ever worried about her brother and Sarah was able to treat the little goblin like a friend because of it. His concern for Toby was a driving force between the two of them and it was strong. It was a bond she doubted she could have made with any other goblin In Labyrinth.

"I want to head over to the Prophesy place you mentioned… I want to get a look at Toby and Jareth's so I can maybe get a hold on this mess, but Labyrinth is so different from the last time I was here…. It's always changing." That brought Sarah back to her first adventure of sorts in Labyrinth and those memories were a lot warmer feeling than the situation at present.

Skub let go of Sarah's pant leg and continued to walk while making sure she was always close to him. He seemed to be afraid of losing her in the labyrinth and she didn't blame him. She'd lost Ludo once and he'd been a giant.

"I don't know the exact way or the quickest way, but we'll get there. I promise on my position as a valet!"

Gradually the vista changed from the bog with its unremitting stench to green and brown fields. In the distance behind that was the castle on its high mount while the twisted hedges of the actual labyrinth wound dead ends and spun traps for unfortunate people trying to get through.

"Somehow I feel like I'm still on a blasted clock… I just don't know how much time it left on it…"

A Pawn No More

Toby slammed head first into something he'd never seen coming. Quickly he stood up and felt around because what little light there had been in the cell had gone out. It was now blacker than anything he'd ever experienced and it was damn cold as well.

"Where the hell am I?" He felt around and nothing but cold stone met him, but it was different from the stone of his cell. The stone walls there had been damp and shaped well, but now they were warmer and rough to the touch. "Hello?!" A scuffling sound and a small breeze crossed his arms and face followed by laughter.

"Oh… had only I seen his face better. Mizumi is going to kill him and it will be one less pest to remove from Labyrinth…" Jareth stopped laughing and looked around. "Really… This is where you take us?... I suppose it is rather safe… This is a place to forget." Light flickered into life and Toby glanced at Jareth. He was paler than normal and dirty from the cells.

"Where is this?" Toby's anger had momentarily subsided and his curiosity had been engaged.

"You've brought yourself to an oubliette. And using what little magic I have left to me I followed you… Your magic is strong, but poorly used. You leave a lot of it behind and that was why I was able to chase after you… now to get out from here…" Jareth rummaged through something on the ground while Toby took the actual hole in.

"There's no way out of this place… There's no door at all… What are we going to do?" Jareth ignored Toby completely and pulled the wooden door off of the ground. After a moment he shoved it into a small niche in the wall and opened the door. Pots and pans, buckets and brooms fell out in a loud clang.

"I'll have to have someone clean these up it seems…" He closed the door again and opened it from the other side to reveal light. For a moment Jareth considered leaving Toby in the oubliette, to keep him safe, but not having magic of his own was too great a loss. He might require the boy at some point… meaning he would have to teach the boy…

Jareth sighed and walked out the door leaving Toby to follow after him, but another thing was nagging at Jareth's brain.

"I must ask. How did Sarah get into Labyrinth if you are here?" Jareth stood up and rotated his stiffened wrist. Toby wondered just how human Jareth really was because as time passed by, Jareth seemed a whole lot more like a regular person than a king of goblins.

"I sent a goblin to bring her by hidden passages… I didn't even tell him what her name was. Only that she was not allowed to be caught… and that if he failed I'd 'tip him head first into the bog of eternal stench'… You know; the little nastily dressed thing that kinda smells like mildew and rocks? Skub." Jareth bent forward and balanced with his hands on his knees while laughing once again. Toby wondered if he had maybe gone crazy in his time of imprisonment… Had Mizumi tortured him perhaps? He seemed ape-shit-batty to him.

"Of all the goblins in all of Labyrinth you send… You send that one! Toby…. Toby, you have made an eternal enemy out of the Queen of Moraine. If she ever finds you again, she is going to kill you in a most heinous way and this is why…" Jareth smiled and it was both complete satisfaction and joy while being evil all the same. Toby wasn't so sure he liked being a top contender on Mizumi's most hated list.

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The White Queen Walks A Hidden Path

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The bog faded behind them and Hoggle waved to Sarah and Skub as he parted ways with them hours before. He'd been asked to travel to other goblin locals and try and get the goblins to revolt against Mizumi. From what little Sarah had heard from the goblins she'd met already, it wasn't a hard thing to manage and she was going to help as much as she could in every town she came across.

"Is the Prince really going to be alright?" Sarah looked down on poor little Skub. The little goblin was growing on her sad enough to say. She didn't want to send Hoggle away, but the Queen would be after her if she found out Sarah had gotten into Labyrinth and she wanted to keep him safe. She wanted to keep Skub safe too, but she needed him to get to the city through secret ways and he said he knew them all.

"He'll be fine… how long will it take us to get to the Hall of Prophesies?" Skub meandered in front of her and he stopped only when she talked to him. He didn't seem to be able to talk and walk at the same time.

"Maybe a day or two… depends on how many of the queens soldiers are out…" He glanced from side to side.

"That quickly?" She wondered if she might have to wait to save Toby… if the revolt didn't get heated quickly enough she would be forced to either abandon the revolt as a front or find a way to rescue him outright… The trees around them suddenly gave way and Skub ran over to a particularly gnarled tree and pressed his equally gnarled fingers against it.

"Follow me." She waited to see what he was talking about, when the tree suddenly grew a mouth and opened up wide showing a cave of sorts behind it.

"Is that safe?" She didn't want to end up in a tree's digestive tract if it could be helped.

"Don't worry. It's not a people eating tree. It's only eats Willow-wisps… and this will take us right to the city." Skub walked in and Sarah eyed the trees abnormally sharp teeth. Skub picked up a bottle from the ground and shook it. Inside a little smoke clad creature rocketed around the insides and gave of a rather bright light.

"You sure?" Skub walked back out and grabbed her pant leg.

"Mostly…" He smiled with two missing teeth and cracks lips. She had no other choice, but to follow and together they entered into the trees mouth where it clamped down tightly leaving no trace of them for any to find.

In the darkness Sarah had time to think and plan. Without anything for her eyes to focus on her imagination grew unruly and she was forced talk rather than stay locked in a movie of her own mind.

"Once we leave this place… where will we come out again? Are there any major towns or cities along the way?" Skub's feet make tiny scratching sounds as he walked ahead of her and she could only make out his back in the light from the Willow-o-wisp. The creature might be bright, but it simply wasn't enough for her to see.

"Well… there's nothing for a half days walk… then we'll come to Goblin town. There we can find out what that evil queen has been doing…" Hour after hour Skub managed to sound more mature almost and smarter. He became less and less shy and jumpy, but all the while maintaining that 'goblin' feel. It made her miss Ludo, Didymus and everyone else she'd met… Being in Labyrinth made it hurt to not see them and talk with them and she hoped beyond anything else that they were safe from both Jareth and Mizumi.


	33. Chapter 33 Chaos Comes To Goblin Town

The White Queen Rises

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Hours seemed to blend seamlessly in the dark tunnel with only the light of a will-o-wisp to show them the way. The dark seemed to have the tendency to allow thoughts to wonder which Sarah learned and it quickly started becoming a dangerous thing. Skub lent little conversation to aid her relentless brain and only the sounds of the wisps movement could be heard over their footsteps.

"Do you know why Jareth has done all of this?" She needed to break the silence… it was starting to make her feel claustrophobic.

"About what?" She was close to telling him to never mind, but he continued and just his speech eased her. "The Queen? Well, it was said that Labyrinth took a great change after he came to rule. Queen Moraine an Jar- the Goblin King were said to have been betrothed… but Jareth never took the Queen`s hand and Labyrinth became what it is now… I don't remember what Labyrinth looked like before. I wasn't around then, but I was told that the Labyrinth sprang up around first the Goblin City and then it moved outwards getting bigger and bigger… It was a way to keep 'things' out…" Sarah listened to the little creature and realized that over time he sounded less and less like a Goblin and more and more like a human. His odd mannerisms had lessened and even his quirks and ticks had lessened. In the dark she was able to hear a personality speaking and not a figment of a dream she's sooner forget. "Not only was Labyrinth locked away, but everyone in it. Very few travel between the boarders between realms… Moraine is not the only realm beyond the twisted paths of Labyrinth…" Sarah realized that both of them had stopped walking.

"Who are you really Skub?" The light flickered as the little goblin turned around. His face was lit oddly and she recalled that he was in fact goblin. A denizen of a world outside hers.

"Just a goblin… Who else would I be? We have to hurry… King- I mean Prince Toby needs us. Here." Skub handed the little will-o-wisp in the bottle to Sarah and she watched it float about angrily inside.

"Is it alright for it to be kept in the bottle? Won't it die?" The creature flew around in circles trying to escape.

"No. Don't trust them either. Just like faeries they are… and dangerous; Tricky." The way he said 'tricky; made her check her grasp on the bottle so she wouldn't drop it.

"Don't listen!" A voice spoke out of the bottle. Skub obviously couldn't hear it because he kept looking for something in the walls or on the floor. "I was captured! I'm not bad. I swear. Let me go." The fiery wisp took on a blue hue and Sarah could see a little body inside the flames. "Let me go."

"Here it is." Sarah turned to watch as Skub pulled down on a lever before the ground opened up and swallowed them both into darkness.

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In town, goblins of every size and every form walked the streets. Some carried baskets with food in them and once in a while the basket would devour a goblin in turn. The houses were small and oddly shaped, as to be expected, while smoke rose from a few houses in the distance. The one thing in common though was the mass talk of the new Queen of Labyrinth.

"She stole the throne I heard." An old hag tossed a chicken into the air and a goblin on the second floor caught it.

"Can't steal what no one owned. The Goblin King left." Someone scoffed and threw a rock at the first goblin.

"The King left an heir it's said… but the Queen ate them both. My brother who is friends with another goblin told him so." The third goblin tripped over his abnormally long feet and the second laughed or rather cackled.

"It's all the same though… At least Jareth left us to our own devices… This Queen… She's a witch and she's messing everything up."

The major talk of Goblin town was two things in particular. He first was 'how' the King of the Goblins met his demise and the second being what to do about the Queen no-one wanted. The talk had been going for almost a whole day now which was a lot for goblins when shouting erupted from the distance.

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Sarah's skin tightened with the heat of the fire. The wisp having been released after the fall flew off in a fit and ignited the hay that had softened their initial fall. Sarah took a moment or two to un-muddle her thoughts before grabbing Skub. He was horror struck with the fire roaring around them both and was thus unable to move. She quickly moved to a wooden door and walked out into bright sunlight.

"Oh, hot, hot, hot, hot…" Something scrambled out after her smoking by the tail and she picked it up and tossed it into a trough of water in the street. "Oh….. yeah…" The creature floated to the water's surface clearly glad to not being on fire. "Oh, oh, oh! FIRE!" Suddenly the thing began to screech 'fire' and it summons goblins by the dozen. Some carried buckets to put out the fire, other tripped with their bucks and soaked the one before it instead.

"Who started the fire?" Sarah ducked and hid behind a shack outside the cellar she's come out of.

"Look, over their!" A goblin pointed right to where she was hiding and she wondered what have her away. When she noticed the creature pointing upwards she also looked up. "Will-o-wisp!"

"Shit…" She burst out of the shack and tore off to the town's gate which was suddenly closing.

"Catch them!" Giggles and laughter, rocks and flying things chased them while the wisp followed overhead.

"Left!" Unsure whether to believe the creature or not she made the choice she always made and listened. She mad a sudden turn to the left and it opened up into flat fields.

"Quickly!" She ran with Skub tucked into her arm while the knot in her rib tightened almost painfully.

"Are they following?" Sarah kept running without looking back.

"Coast is all clear. Too busy with the fire." Sarah slowed down and placed Skub down before leaning against a tree and then sliding down so as to rub the knot.

"You're the will-o-wisp aren't you? Why are you following me?" The fire burned bright red and then back to blue.

"You set me free. You tried to protect my bottle from crashing… you held on so tightly, but it broke anyway… To pay you back for your kindness I lit your way out." Sarah almost told the creature she's almost been burned alive, but kept it to herself.

"Ah… thanks…"

Sarah took in the view around her and allowed herself a moment of peace. Despite the fire that was billowing smoke off into the distance, beyond that was a sight for sure. The trees behind the smoke were all moss covered and such, the Bog, and beyond that was the large stone labyrinth and further out still… She'd never thought to look beyond those walls thought. Even the first time she'd come she only ever looked for the castle. It had been all that mattered then.

"Wait! Please. I have a favor to ask… If you would?" The wisp burned darker blue and then back again.

"I know." But the wisp flew back to Goblin Town… but then there were two wisps, then four and then ten and the numbers grew and grew as they all converged above the small houses built oddly and misshapen. And even at the distance Sarah could hear the wisps message to the Goblins below.

"Goblins! We have come to you today with a message! A request from the Queen. Lend your help or watch Labyrinth fall." Sarah watched with shock as the little wisps demanded war. And by the Queen, of all people! She wondered if the will-o-wisp knew who she was at all to have said such and she decided she'd not wait to find out… Truthfully it worked out in her favor because as she left, the Goblins shouts grew loader than the wisps in outrage. Her goblin revolution was happening before her eyes; she left Goblin Town in confusion and never once cared that the wisps had declared war on behalf of the Queen. The Goblin no longer carried baskets with food, but with rocks and other pulled out weaponry from a war 13 years in the past. And just like then, Sarah ran with eyes locked onto the castle beyond the Goblin City.


	34. Chapter 34 The Way Forward

The Pawn Begins To Understand

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Toby was in a foul mood. A foul, ill-tempered, angry as hell type mood; he blamed it on Jareth. In a rather obnoxious Toby listed off reasons he had a mind to use magic against Jareth. The list went as followed.

1:He's a kidnapper

2:He black-mailed my sister

3:He set me up

4:And didn't care that I was going to more than likely be killed

5:By an insane Queen/witch/thing

6:I can't go home

7:I'm hungry

8:Labyrinth doesn't have t.v.

And the list continued into more and more mundane things that Toby was just coming to realize he missed.

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To top off all of his self-inflicted woes, he found he was lost without Jareth. Labyrinth seemed to hold all of it secret passages and hidden doorways for the real King of the Goblins and it was a serious setback to Toby's confidence. He'd wanted to do great things in Labyrinth. He'd believed in what everyone had told him and said about him.

"Where are you taking us to Jareth." He was unaware at this point his Jareth was oblivious to Toby's loath or just immune. Both irked Toby into a stupor worse than the one before and an odd game of hid and seek insure because of Toby's wish to get away from Jareth; Naturally Jareth had no choice but to chase after him whenever he disappeared.

"This is nonsense boy. I would think someone in your position would be a little less likely to disappear into gods only knows where… Mizumi's rodents are likely to be anywhere and you insist on vanishing with nary a sound. Grow up." For the billionth time Jareth rounded on Toby with little sympathy. "If you don't, your sister is going to be found out and you will never leave this place."

"I didn't ask to be a part of your stupid game! Just take back your throne and you be the stupid King of the Goblins. I abdicate!" Jareth moved to silence the boy, but the damage had been done and he knew it.

"Dammit boy! Go on then. Vanish and see if you can find your beloved sister yourself." And Toby tried… but he could not disappear no matter how much he tried.

"What did you do to me?!"Toby stepped forward with his fist balled up to swing.

"I didn't do a thing, but it clears you out of the picture…" Jareth willed magic to return to him and found that not a trace of it in him. Puzzled he tried again and stared at Toby.

"I think the better question is what have you done… The powers and throne you just tossed aside have stripped you of your powers… but they have not returned to me, the rightful King… Neither you or I have claim to Labyrinth and I fear you may have just handed the deed over to Mizumi herself… Fool." The strength drained out of Toby as well as the color in his face.

"What does that mean for us then?" Toby might as well have been a child of ten. He was small and didn't know a single thing about what was going on.

"We'll find out soon enough…" Jareth looked out over Labyrinth and eyed the distant Bog, forests and miles and miles worth of labyrinths that twined about his realm. Without his powers as Goblin King or at least the Pathmaker, Jareth was no better off than Sarah the first time she'd come to his realm. A labyrinth worked both ways after all.

"What do you mean by that? We can't wait around for her to find us or kill us. We have to do something!" He shouted and Jareth spun to shut him up when and Old man or sorts walked by… his hat was strange like everything in Labyrinth for it wasn't a hat really, but a long necked bird of some kind. "Sir… Can you tell me a way out of the Labyrinth?" Jareth scoffed at the uselessness of the question, but the wise man turned his grey eyes to Toby never the less.

"A way out, you say? Hmm…"

"Good luck…" The wise man looked up and the hat hybrid looked away.

"And who might you be boy?... Oh!" The wise man looked at Jareth with recognition and he shuffled a bit in agitation.

"I'm no one. Neither is he." The comment irked Jareth and Toby felt better for it.

"No-one, un…"

"Oh boy… Just get on with it." Again the bird squawked.

"Will you be quiet?!" The bird looked down and then away. "Now, what did you ask?"

"I need to find a way out of the labyrinth."

"A way out… Well, sometimes the way forward is actually the way back."

"Here we go again… what a crock…"

"I said BE QUIET!"

"Ok."

"Alright?"

"Ok"

"What a pity…" Toby looked to Jareth and back, but the man was asleep; his hand outstretch with a collection box.

"I'm not paying for that!... I'm going to be stuck in this fucking' place forever!" Jareth laughed outright and began to walk away despite their heavy set back.

"It's only forever… not long at all…" Toby had no choice but to continue walking with Jareth, both ex-kings of Labyrinth with no magic or a hope at all. " If you were your sister, what would so first after getting into Labyrinth?" Toby fell into step next to Jareth and thought about it.

"I'd find my friends…I'd need their help and they know Labyrinth best…" A smile pulled on Jareth's face. "What do you find so amusing?"

"I'm refuse to go to the Bog to find Sarah's prince, and Didymus is in the castle and more than likely under heavy guard… that leaves the rock beast, Ludo. This will be fun…" Quite contrary to what he said, finding and getting aid for that particular creature would be little to no fun at all. After aiding Sarah in the first place, the creature bad been forced into labour and after escaping he has failed to be recaptured. "Other than that?"

"Well… I'd find a way into the castle and look for me. She's going to walk right into Mizumi's hands if we don't' find her first! Wait… she said she'd go to the Goblin City first though… we can wait for her there… I'm sure if we wait by the main gates we'll meet up… It's all we've got anyways… Oh yeah… tell me who Jared is." Jareth didn't take the demanded kindly and stalked off.

"Jared was an ablation created by Mizumi on your sister. I kind of magic that can remove any metal aspect and separate it from the host… I believe my other jareth-kin was simply Sarah's memories of me. Because it was me she was forced to forget, it came to look like me." Jareth was unaware that he had said too much until Toby asked his next question.

"Then what is Moppet? She's an ablation that looks like Sarah, but you remember my sister perfectly… what's Moppet and ablation of then, Jareth?"


	35. Chapter 35 Only Human

The White Rook Moves Onward

The moment that that the visiting Queen of Moraine lay claim to Labyrinth was the moment that Hana and Moppet had run. Hana heard about the news on nightly raid of the castles kitchen in hopes of finding her wings. Instead she heard how Toby had been taken prisoner and that Jareth himself was a captive. Instantly Hana had run to find her stead which was nothing more than a small Ludo-ish type creature; then she found Moppet.

Moppet had been alone when Mizumi had taken over and was safe when Hana found her, but Moppet was not normal. The tan skinned and pale haired version of Sarah sat in a chair, in her room with a somewhat vacant look about her.

"Move Moppet, we must hurry!" Almost an hour later and they had still failed to escape the castle. Guards stood sentry in the main halls and so they had taken to the hiding aspects of the castle. "Please Moppet."

"Hana… what is happening to me?" The little faery had no idea and no explanation for what Moppet was feeling.

"I don't know, but when we get out of the castle I will find someone who can fix you. I promise." Although she said that, she didn't even know what was wrong with Moppet to begin with. When she'd first asked, Moppet could only say that she felt strange and heavily stressed suddenly.

"Shh…" Hana paused and then urged her steed to the corner and peer around the bend. Sounds seemed to bounce around the walls of Labyrinth and carried from everywhere. "Ok… we can... Moppet. Where are you going?" Hana hissed when Moppet passed her to stand in the center of a four way crossing. There was no light to guide them safely aside from the gentle glow than came off of Hana's dark hair.

"This way. Hurry Hana." Moppet took off at a run down one of the four hallways without and seconds thought leaving Hana to either follow quickly or loss her only friend that wasn't a prisoner of war.

"…Toby…" Angrily and swearing revenge against the Queen, Hana took off after Moppet and into the darkness. She was so mad at herself for being cruel to Toby who had ignored her transgressions of theft and tried to help her… she'd been so cruel and quick to judge... "Wait up Moppet!" Her voice echoed down underneath the castles keep and found Moppet standing once more in a cross road. "Do you even know where you are going?

"I can hear… I can hear her voice. It's so close and... she's telling me something. She's explaining something so important, but I can't hear exactly what it is…" Moppet had already started running again and Hana again was forced to chase after her.

"Moppet please. Stop! I can't keep…" But the path had ended with Moppet blocking a small source of light that Hana could not see. "What is that? Be careful… I may be a trap set by the queen." Slowly, as if afraid the light might activate some kind of magic, Hana stood next to Moppet. Her creature moaned with anxiety and reared. "Silence… be calm…" Her own heart was beating wildly despite her soothing words. "Where in Labyrinth are we?"

In a low voice, barely above a whisper was the answer, but only Moppet seemed to understand the meaning.

"…Underground..."

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The Real King of Labyrinth

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Moving towards the Goblin City was slow business. Being that both Toby and Jareth were wanted and being searched out for sure made them cautious of every turn and every corner which was often in Labyrinth.

"It's the same everywhere you go! If only you weren't as brainless as a broken mop…" Jareth stopped next to Toby and they listened to the goblin's that now blocked their path forward. Already they had been forced to go backwards and around masses of goblins that were converging. Something Jareth said was far from normal with goblins. "We were told to meet up at the wishing fountain…" Toby watched as the goblins looked about wearily. Perhaps they were searching for the ex-kings of Labyrinth.

"Do we really have to do this?" The first goblin gave a crippling blow to the head of the second.

"Shh! And yes… That queen is no good for Labyrinth and we've been called to muster. Either fight the queen or be wiped out… This is no place for a witch. Do you want to be turned into some kind of noble knight or something?" The smaller goblin shuttered away in fear while shaking his head madly from side to side. " Then hurry up and stop your belly aching…" The duo turned to face Toby and he backed up quickly and motioned that they had to move and quickly.

"Move…move!" Toby spun around and shoved Jareth who was startled by the contact. "Get down, get down…quietly…" Jareth was propelled forward and head first into a dying hedge with Toby following right behind him. Jareth watched as Toby peeked through the bushes as the goblins walked by completely oblivious to the occupants hidden away in the bushes. "Coast is clear… that was kind of close though… Jareth?" Jareth was on the other side of the bushes with his hand clenching one of the many stone statues of gargoyles and other creatures strewn about this part of Labyrinth. "…Jareth…"

Drained of color and breathing heavily, Jareth was a sight to encourage concern. Unable to tell what was wrong Toby could ask for direction.

"What's wrong? What's happening?" Jareth tried to move and succeed in only causing more pain for he gasped and gripped his chest.

"Mizumi…"Toby looked around suddenly concerned with his own safety, but could see no sigh of being found out or caught by the enemy.

"Does this have something to do with your ablation?" Hitting the mark Jareth nodded, his head bent low and eyes forced shut. "Is Sarah safe? Is Sarah in danger by any of this?" Shaking his head just as violently as before Toby knelt next to Jareth and looked at Jareth again in a very human light. "Are you going to be alright?" Jareth didn't answer this and stood up so abruptly that they almost smacked heads. "Hey… You gonna be alright?"

"Enough with the questions already!" Jareth snapped, he enunciated every word carefully to either make the message perfectly clear of because he was unsure if he could say it normally…

"You sure Sarah is safe?" Jareth turned his head to Toby and glared before walking before the interruption. "… I'm going to fix this… Mizumi has taken Labyrinth, brain-washed Sarah, imprisoned you and I and is enslaving the goblins of Labyrinth… That's bullshit in my books and I won't stand of it anymore. This isn't a matter of me just finding a way to Sarah and then home anymore. Mizumi is going down and it sounds like Labyrinth is going to help us one way or another… Don't you care Jareth?"

"This is my kingdom and my people. Do you thing I have ruled because I thought it fun?! I am not a boy who things that the world is my plaything. I will have Labyrinth and everything else that has been taken from me. If you are finished prattling on, I suggest we move while we can…"

Completely unhinged, Jareth's mind started detailing the change that had thrown him into an uncontrolled downward spin. Unsure of the reasons or even the 'how' of what had just happened shocked him and made him numb with attachments he had willfully forgotten. For whatever reason it was, Mizumi must have returned Moppet to him. The ablation had been undone and the connection and love he'd once had for Sarah now ate away at him. The reconnection to a feeling so strong and bewildering left him sore and bitter because with the return of that love came the renewed loath that her denial had brought him… Tempered slightly with the knowledge he'd once received from Sarah herself and driven forwards to the issue at hand, Jareth combatted the effects of what had once been a willing to do anything for one person… what bothered him most was that he was more shaken by the loath he had for Sarah rather than the love…


	36. Chapter 36 Heed The Call

The Rogue Pawn's Search

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Moulin traveled with the trash-lady and gave up any chance of finding peace. She would never find a home in Labyrinth or Moraine and the chances of her even escaping Labyrinth was a large place and Mizumi would never give up looking for her and not out of love either.

"I want to rest now…" Moulin sat down on a three legged stool. It had once had a fourth, but it was no wonder it was broken and where it was.

"Yes, yes… You can rest my dear. Take all the time you need." Ignoring the old woman as she rummaged through old and worn wreckage of a decadent past, Moulin eyed the castle.

'_I need to figure out what I am going to do… I won't give myself up. I won't cease to exist just because Mizumi wants it… poor Drumlin…So if I can't escape Mizumi, I need to find another way… I need a way out of this… think.'_

As much as she urged herself, nothing came to mind other than she needed to at least get out of the city. Already she had to dodge Mizumi's guards as they filed into place. Mizumi's army was here and growing stronger in number with every passing hour and Moulin was an easy thing to spot thanks to her retched cloud.

"Stupid thing…" She swiped at it angrily and it moved before falling back in place above her. Knowing that she would have to live alone and far away from others eyes was a painful thing. She enjoyed people and noises they made right down to the strange things they did sometimes… they more and more she thought about the more she realized her mind had changed in once severe facet.

Escaping Mizumi was no longer an option as she listened to other trash-ladies move about the heaps of debris. There was talk of a goblin revolt as Mizumi claimed Labyrinth and gave ultimatums to the people living here.

.

She had to be taken out of power if Moulin wanted a hope of outliving this experience.

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Labyrinth Begins To Unite

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Hours away and out of sight from the issues at the castle beyond the goblin city, a single creature lifts giant rocks and sets them back down however it deems fit before moving out of sight altogether.

"Oh, now where did he go?" Hoggle sticks his head out slight to get a better view when he is lifted clean of his feet. "Let me go, let me go, let me go! I never hurt no one!" In a fit of cowardly fright, Hoggle thrashes wildly to escape the clutches of the beast. "I'm a friend, I'm a friend!"

"Friend?" Instantly Hoggle ends his feeble attempts and breaths out a sigh of relief. "Ludo friend!"

"Yes, yes. Now put me down!" Now that his feet were firming planted back on the ground, Hoggle looks up while in the shadow of the giant form of Ludo; friend of the rocks, a previous conspirator against Jareth and most importantly, Hoggle's friend. "There. Now… we have work to do. Sarah has come back and needs our help. You going to helps us or not?" Ludo reached down and lifted Hoggle of the ground and onto his shoulder.

"Ludo friend! Sarah, Hoggle and brother. Friend…"


	37. Chapter 37 Promise Born Of Blood

The White Queens Woe

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Tired and worn from two days straight travel was taking its toll and Sarah was starting to wonder if she was going to even make it to the castle this time. She didn't know if it was that lack of adrenaline keeping her going, but she was drained and ached from head to toe. Already she had to stop a handful of times to rub the knot that had set into her calf and it seemed to be taking up a permanent residence at the rate it was going.

"Ten minutes… and we can go forward some more. We are almost there right?" Sarah looked down at the haggard little goblin that had been depressed from his 'fainting' earlier. He'd woken an hour or so later and was deeply concerned with his abilities to succeed in his mission. Another hour had been spent explaining that there was no one better before they could make some serious headway towards the goblin city.

"We can be there by nightfall…" She somehow how doubted that though. With every mile they covered more and more traffic on the roads seemed to slow them down. Goblins traveled all over. Some flew, so swam, but most followed then well-worn paths of Labyrinth.

"And you know exactly where the Hall of Prophecy is?" Skub gave her promised word and she took it for face value. He was trying his best for her and Toby and she wouldn't get frustrated if things didn't go her way… That was who she'd gotten here in the first place years before. "Good… then I need you to do a very important mission." Skub looked so eager and so willing to do her bidding that she kind of felt guilty. He didn't seem to understand that once she got hold of Toby, that they would be leaving Labyrinth. Not staying. "We are getting close to the city right? I need you to go into the city when we get close enough and I need you to find out what all the commotion is about and figure out if we can get around or through to get to the Hall." Skub tilted his head sideways and laced his fingers together.

"If you'd like to get into the Hall without being seen…" Skub moved closer to her and she bent over to hear him. "… I can take you in a secret way…" Sarah swallowed frustration and ran her hand through her hair. After rubbing her temples in small circular motions she found the energy to thank him without screaming.

"That would be perfect… if you have any other short cuts that can make this easier and safer… feel free to tell me right away. Please." Instantly Skub shuffled forward and shooed her back and away. He then backed up to get a better look at the spot she'd been standing and then lifted a stone up.

"Then we should drop down here… don't want to get caught now do we?" Skub ushered Sarah to the hole from which she could see no bottom.

"You sure about this?" In an attempt to show it was safe he tugged her pant leg and she dropped into the hole with a scream. The darkness consumed her instantly and ever her shouting dimmed. The hole bent gently and she began to slide rather than fall until the ride ended in another drop. Sarah plunged feet first into shockingly cold water. It punched the breath out of her lungs and she struggled to coordinate herself and swim up to the surface. Shortly after she pulled herself out of the water and onto the shore Skub followed. His splash was small and he looked just as wretched when he got out that it made her feel better about the situation.

"That's not supposed to be here!" Dripping wet and shivering, Skub pulled his out and removed his coat and wrung it out as best as possible.

"What's not?" Skub pointed angrily at the entire room.

"That water! I shouldn't be here at all… something happened to make it flood." Angrily he kicked a stone in to the water and sufficed with his petty revenge he continued leading Sarah by hidden pathways towards the goblin city. It was only after a short period of time had passed was she willing to question the water again. He'd been so irate over such a small thing that she hadn't wanted to upset him.

"Were do you think that water came from if it didn't belong here? I haven't seen it rain or anything since we got here." No sooner had she asked did the tunnel they were in open up wider. The sound of things moving about above them made her squint to see. Luckily the new room had a handful of vents of some kind that she could see the surfaces once more. "Look, were close to the top again. Looks like you did get some rain…"

Outside a vent to her right Sarah could make out what appeared to be a person sitting down with an umbrella over her head, dark clouds above her roiled, heavy with rain… then she realized that the person was human. Not goblin.

"Excuse me!" The person was so startled that they moved away from the vent and out of sight for a moment. "Wait! Can you please help me? Are we close to the goblin city?" A minute ticked by before she got an answer.

"You are almost directly under it. You are just outside the gates of the city… Who are you and what are you doing down there?" The person tried to see better, but to no avail.

"Just a traveler… what news of the surface?" Sarah thought it was a good chance to get some information seeing as the last thing she'd heard was from goblin town and it had been about her Goblin Revolt.

"The city is in chaos. Mizumi has taken Labyrinth by force… some have been lost…" The voice stopped. "Are you with queen or against her?"

"Against… She stole something from me…" Sarah answered back angrily and narrowly avoided saying something that could have given her away.

"I see… Toby has been taken prisoner, but he has escaped since along with the Goblin King, Jareth… I heard it from Goblin's and from the Queens men that are searching for them… The goblins are coming together secretly… they plan to fight the Queen, but it is hopeless… They are only simple goblins and she is a witch… a powerful witch… She took my sister."

"I promise you… I promise on all the things that Queen had taken, stolen and destroyed. I will help the goblins win back Labyrinth. You will see your sister again." The rain lessened for a moment and compounded. It roared down all the vents in rivers and torrents.

"That's impossible. She's dead now…" Sarah's throat thickened and made it very hard to breath. To her knowledge the queen hadn't actually killed anyone yet… This had been the first she'd heard of it, but thankfully for now both Toby and Jareth were out of her grasps… She just had to find them.

"I found the way to the surface… follow me. Let's get out of this water…" Skub pulled her over to a ladder that went straight up and looked a great deal like the ladder she'd climbed with Hoggle years ago and so she was careful going up.

"Come on Skub… We are almost at the city…" Sarah opened the hatched above her which was heavy before it swung wide open.

"Here…" Sarah took someone's hand and when she stood up she witnessed a most strange person.

"You…" The girl pulled away from her like she'd been burned. "…But you're not Moppet." The girl with the cloud hanging over her head looked frightened to no end.

"Moppet. You know Moppet?" Skub closed the trap door which disappeared into the garbage around them and pointed with recogniztion.

"The Queens daughter" He hissed and Moulin turned to run, but Sarah grabbed her before she could even try. "That's the Queens daughter! Moulin!" Moulin panicked and tried to pull free.

"Please… I don't want to hurt you!"

"Don't take me back! She'll kill me too!" Sarah pulled hard on Moulin's arm and she turned.

"I won't… You said she took your sister? I am against the Queen…" Sarah lowered her voice. "She took my brother… You should know him and I'm going to say this because I don't think you will get me caught… Toby is my little brother. Help me find him and defeat the Queen." Moulin gawked at Sarah with her eyes wide open in while everything sank in.

"Then… You're not Moppet… You're not with the Queen…" She took in shallow breaths to steady herself. "You're Toby's sister; you're Sarah." Reality of the situation sank in the rest of the way and she realized just who she'd stumbled upon. "You're the reason Jareth came to Mizumi for an ablation… Moppet looks just like you."

"I know… Toby told me."

"How did you get here?" Sarah let Moulin's arm go and stood out of the rain cloud.

"Skub helped me get all the way here. Toby sent him to get into Labyrinth by secret." Moulin was dumbfounded. The very chance of her escaping her mother had walked almost into her arms… Hell, It hand grabbed her!

"Mizumi doesn't know you're here yet… She can't have else she would have her men looking for you as well. I'm sure of it… especially with Moppet missing too…" Moulin began talk almost to herself with Sarah listened anyways. "I have a chance…"

.

The Black Queen Rages

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Inside her rooms in the castle beyond the goblin city, Mizumi destroyed much of what once had been Jareth's personal rooms in search of Underground. Esker stood as guard at the door, lucky as he was to still live after letting both Toby and Jareth go.

"Where is it!? Why is it not here!?" Her once perfectly composed demeanour eroded further with Jareth's disappearance. She had been in Jareth's rooms for the greater part of half the day. All the wall hangings had been pulled down and removed from the room. Trinkets of a world not his had been trampled underfoot in her desperate search. "Any word of the Jareth and Toby yet? Give me good news Esker." But there was none to be had and she knew it without him saying a thing. "I have to find it! I must find it!... She is coming, don't you understand?!" Her voice grew thin with her high pitch, her plans were all ruined and lay at her feet. All her best attempts had all drowned and she knew not how to pull everything back into her favour.

She had lost her ablation and without knowing where it was she could not risk bring it back to her. It if lay in someone's hands and it quite honesty could be in Jareth's for all she knew, then they might injure the ablation and thus herself. Both Jareth and Toby had escaped Esker who had his voice taken for having told her such news while Sarah, Jareth's precious little human girl roamed Labyrinth.

Oh yes, she knew that girl was here. She should have killed her rather than buy Jareth's with it. It had happened hours ago, just before Jareth's escape, when everything decided to self-destruct around her… She'd been looking at the orb which was used to make Moppet when it suddenly went dim and without magic. Seeing as Esker had just left then, she knew Jareth could not have met with his ablation and taken it back… instead with woman with whom the ablation looked identical must have found her… and she know knew Jareth's secrets… all of them. That love that she know understood perfectly was on her way here for sure to take back Labyrinth… stupid humans were…

"I can still take that little witch out… She has nothing and nowhere to go, but here… she will come… and I will great her…" Mizumi smiled for the first time in hours and sat down in the wreckage that was Jareth's room. "I will destroy her things time without hesitation…"

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Apart from the World

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"This place… is so beautiful… no wonder Jareth kept it hidden…" Hana looked around at a scene that was clearly not Labyrinth any more. River ran clear down green hills and the sun was not threatened by a single cloud. The scene twisted in the center though and the sun could not pierce that darkness.

"I know this…" Moppet looked at a woman, she was dark haired and fair, her eyes shone with defiance and radiance that Moppet could never hope to match and across from the woman was a man. His face pale was almost ghostly around his clothes of white and… he was also beautiful as they faced each other in the moment she thought she knew, that lay frozen. They stayed silence watching each other, unmoving, speechless.

"What is it? What is this…? Who is that person?" Moppet let the tears at her eye fall down her face.

"It's me… In a place where wishes come true… dreams live in this place. I wish I understood…" But she could not disturb the dream or the moment frozen in time as much as her heart told it had to. It must change.


	38. Chapter 38 Labyrinth's Heart

The Black Queen's Magic

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Mizumi turned a cold eye to the western wing of the castle beyond the goblin city and there she found something that made her cringe. At least it was something worth loathing if only for the moment.

"Rise and seek out the dark places of the world, the stars that lay cradled in the depths between the moons and the sun…"The energy's Mizumi invoked spun the elements into frenzy and they fought their natural instincts. Wind blew in maddening torrents and howled down into the city, the scones along the wall sputtered while fire crept up the walls despite having nothing to fuel its rage and the dampness of the room pooled together at Mizumi's very feet in puddles. "Rise and seek out the girl. Find me the human girl named Sarah and bring her to me…"

At that moment the fire flash violently and stunned the eyes. When the light calmed nothing remained the darkness. And then… in an eerie voice an answer.

"Fury has gone at once. Despair also… I shall find them and I will show the woman of your eye Sorrow…" Mizumi smiled and walked away. Three creatures summoned to enact three tasks. She watched Fury destroy the western wing of the castle, her first demand set to ruin the memory of the Goblin 'King'. She would rebuild Labyrinth starting Jareth's gift to Sarah as it had once been meant for her. Despair wound flow through the city and sap the goblins will to revolt and wage war against her while Sorrow was going to finish what she herself should have done when first she'd set eyes on the young woman at the edges of Labyrinth…

"I shall mend my mistakes now… and as for you…" She turned he back from the flames that engulfed a massive part of the castle. "Find Moulin. Find her and bring her to me unharmed and do not return unless you have her. Come before me with another failure and you will receive no simple punishment like you have now…"

Esker watched his Lady leave him and as crippled as she had the moment he'd lay eyes on her; speechless. This time it was not a matter of not finding the words, but worse. She'd removed his tongue in her rage…

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Change

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Sarah sat with crossed legs and listened to everything Moulin knew and Moulin was more than happy to through something in Mizumi's path. Vital information about ablations, Toby and Mizumi's plans to take Labyrinth unfolded at Sarah's feet while idea's to conquer a new Labyrinth bombarded her. Jareth was not the enemy this time despite having started all of this which made her needs easier and harder. She didn't know Mizumi and what she could do and didn't have a book that told her everything though Moulin came close. But Mizumi didn't know her or what she could do… all she wanted was Toby and to leave. After that, anything was game.

"You started this war right? So what is your plan? I want to help." Moulin took in what she could and offered everything. Sarah moved, spoke and devised things that fuelled Moulin with an almost uncomfortable amount of energy. She wanted to act, she wanted to do something…

"Kind of… a will-o-wisp declared war by the queen… I don't think they understood who I really was and the goblin's revolted at the message they received. It was what I wanted, don't get me wrong, but I actually didn't do anything. I've sent a friend to spread the word that war has come to Labyrinth and that they must take action. In the confusion I plan to find Toby, get him to safety and worry about the queen… Are you sure you know what you're doing? I know she wants to get at you, but… I don't plan to walk away fro Labyrinth until its back to normal. I can't because they will simply come and take Toby again… I need to put everything right and they means I have to get Jareth back on the throne… I'm going to fight your mother…"

"She's not my mother. I wasn't born; I wasn't made out of love. I was created out of spite and cast aside. She destroyed Drumlin. I'm not going to die. I don't want to…" Even though Moulin spoke of human emotions she clearly felt ill over the thought of fighting Mizumi whether it was fear of death or quilt of raising a hand against the only thing you believed was important.

"Alright… I don't want to hurt her. So when this is all done with… you can come with me. I'll take you to my world where she can't get you." Sarah said that while arguing the idea of hiding a girl with a perma-raincloud overhead.

"You would do that?" Stunned and shock Moulin touched something that didn't occur in her life at all. Kindness without expectation; It was a facet not known to her world and it made her paranoid. "Why?" And in her own way Sarah combatted the same odd feeling that the girl before her did.

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Not being able to understand 'why'

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"Because that's the right thing to do."

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The Black Knight

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"Goblins of Labyrinth!" Toby stood before a group of goblins, some he'd seen before and had been unable to forget, others he'd simply never met. He stood on top a wooden box and addressed the denizens of Labyrinth. "An imposter sits upon your throne! Mizumi came as a guest and imprisioned your King! Forced him to flee, but she has made a mistake in allowing him free! Because he stands before you now, on equal ground as you and asking for your help! I ask you, help me take back Labyrinth and make it great once more!" Toby's speech was heard right to the back of the crowd were Jareth sat and listened with actual surprise. He'd expected the goblins to laugh and perhaps take him right to Mizumi, but instead he had won their hearts. The crowd was excited by his prospects of death and war. They wanted freedom, they wanted a King that would protect them… "This 'Queen' must be removed from Labyrinth so that a new era can begin. I will help usher forth a wondrous flood for this land and together, with the late King of Labyrinth, we will make Labyrinth a realm to be envious of!" The goblins roared. Toby won Labyrinth and Jareth was pulled in by their dreams… the dreams he'd once wanted to protect and new dreams that Toby infected him with… Dreams and desires that were so similar… "Come on Jareth!"

"To Jareth! To Toby! Kings of Labyrinth!" Cheers erupted as the goblins moved about with purpose, they would first move to gather others and then they would move to take back their city and castle… and a though hit Jareth that sparked life in the wounded heart of a cold King as he was lifted up and along with Toby.

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I built the walls of Labyrinth to keep the world out. I allowed Sarah into my world yet the Labyrinth remained… So why does it still stand if I no longer have the title of Goblin King? What keeps Labyrinth standing if clearly Mizumi has not received that title… How really owns Labyrinth… Why do I even care?


	39. Chapter 39 Unexpected Assault

The City Rises

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The sun had raised high in the afternoon sky and Skub sat at a window ledge with his face pressed against the mirror looking out into the streets of Goblin City. Moulin sat on the floor so as not to soak the bed that Sarah slept on, arms wrapped round her as if to protect herself even in rest.

"Do you think she can do everything she says she wants to? Do you think we can stop Mizumi?" Moulin shifted the umbrella she had found beyond the gates in the garbage heaps and rested it in the crock of her neck rather than hold it any longer. "What makes her so convinced…?"

Skub pulled away from the glass with a screech as his hands slid down the pane.

"…She was picked to be the Queen of Labyrinth before Mizumi took it. She came to Labyrinth, fought against Jareth and won… Took back her little brother and left Labyrinth in ruin… Goblins..." He studied the room to make sure it was safe before continuing. "… many think that she took Jareth's powers when she beat him. It suffered like it did before she came… the hedges were once thorns, the bog was a waste land. Everything you see beyond the borders of Labyrinth used to be what was within and had been since Jareth claimed his prophecy. When Jareth picked her to be Queen, even before he came before her personally, Labyrinth had begun to change… She has magic that is beyond that Queen who sits on the throne now…"

"All that?" Skub nodded.

"Labyrinths rulers are the bases for all magic. We feared when Jareth lost control that he was no longer king… then he went to Moraine for help." She understood the rest and then shuddered.

"If the ruler is given magic, then we are all in danger. We are sitting her in the shadow of the castle and she now rules. Hear magic will be all the more lethal and we are walking towards her…"

"W-what? Y-you think…" He paused and listened as did Moulin. They heard voices down the street and they were coming closer.

"What are they saying?" Skub grunted in reply.

"Shh!"

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"Goblins of Labyrinth! We are gathering to throw this 'Queen' out! She does not belong! We do not need a Queen. We have a king! Goblin King Toby has told us of her evil plans, we need to act now!" Goblins spread out and began knocking on doors and goblins from inside the houses left their homes to join the goblin revolution.

"Oh my god… there are going door to door! They are going to find us! What do we do?" Moulin dropped down and hid away from the window while she hissed at Skub.

"I-I don't know what to do? I'm just a valet!" Skub ducked below the window sill and knocked his fist against his head. "What to do? What to do?" The knocks came closer and finally woke Sarah. She heard the voices and launched off the bed and onto the floor.

"What the hell is going out there?!" She rounded on Moulin who was trying to fix her umbrella while staying out of sight.

"Goblins! They are rounding up goblins to fight against the Queen! What do we do?!" She yanked Skub down from the ledge and then pressed herself against the door. She would have locked it if the house had one, but they had no such luck.

"Shh…I can't hear what they are saying…" Suddenly the door shook. Someone was banging on the door. She pulled away a bit and rubbed her cheek bone and bent down.

"I 'eard ya talkin', now come out and 'elp your King… Come on now." She waited with her finger against her lips. Moulin and Skub stared off into to know where and waited with pent up breath. "…This house is leakin'…" Footsteps faded as Moulin looked down, mortified at the stream of water pouring out and into the street.

"I didn't know! I didn't know!" She hissed and Sarah clamped her hand around her mouth.

"This is the house? Alright… step back then." Sarah twists around moves to grab the door knob when it swings open and spills them out into the street.

"What the… Sarah?" Pulled to her feet, Sarah feels hands wrap around her and she stiffens when she places the voice. "You made it this far?" He was dresses in almost normal looking clothes and a shirt. It was better than what he'd been wearing when he'd tumbled out of her closet.

"Toby?" She pulls him away and turns him in a circle making sure he is unharmed. "You imbecilic… moronic… retard!" She cuffs him upside the head and Toby backs away with his hands over his head. She cuffs him again and a large and rather nicely armored goblin stands to guard Toby from her.

"Shall I put her in irons M'Lord?" She snorted, came forward and pulled the large helm down on his head.

"You'd have to do a lot better than that to stop me… You'd have to travel back in time to be honest if you planned on trying to cow me…"

"Is that all it would take?" The color drained from her face. She'd imagined what the confrontation would be when she finally met with Jareth again. He'd once towered over her and dazzled her with his tone, dress and manner of speech. He'd seemed bigger than life; he'd terrified her.

"Do you have any idea what you put me through? I've come here again, traveled the length and width of this place again because of you…"

"Sarah… I'm sorry. I should have told you he was with me…" Toby stepped forward, but she turned from him and glared face to face with Jareth.

"You…!" She stopped. She couldn't tell if it was just seeing him again that stunned her or something else, but everything was different. He didn't stand over her like he had before, he did wear strange clothes… instead he stood before her, a few inches taller than her, dressed in what looked like normal slacks and a shirt much like Toby's. His hair had not changed and was the only thing the same really… his face had changed the most though he'd not aged at all. That she was sure of.

"You brought me here either way to look at it. I've been dragged her by your meddling and your scheming…" She turned away from him which bothered her far more than she would admit, but would not turn back. "You… I've been looking for a way to break you out of prison and you've been running around waging war?!" She yanked him by the sleeve and dragged him into the house. "Don't even try. I'll _drown_ you in the bog of eternal stench." The goblin that had moved to help Toby jumped backwards and fell taking three others with him. Jareth stood without word, comment of expression while he listened to the argument that insured.

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Reunion Of The White Knight and White Queen

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Toby stepped away as his sister blew a gasket. He didn't blame her really, but it wasn't doing any good expect for maybe her. She seemed to need to vent and so he let her go at it.

"You could have come to me! You knew I was here. You have the powers of this place being the flipping King… You're the King... I can't believe you came here and decided to be the King… Idiot… IDIOT!" Sarah walked in a circle and spoke while her hands threatened to knock every hanging object down from off the walls. "King! After that man out there! He kidnapped you! Twice!"

"I'm not a kid anymore Sarah." He swallowed and cursed his big mouth because she stopped her circling and stood before him and unloaded.

"No? You came to a magical world of fairies, will-o-wisps, queens and goblin fricken kings and thought you could be one!? Oh yeah… cause that's really adult thinking right there." The door opened and Jareth stood in the door. Sarah instantly stepped back out of childhood habit. He looked at her for a moment and then to Toby.

"This place is not the best place for such a conversation… You might as well be asking the Queen to come down and take part." Toby ran his hand through his hair in the same manner that Sarah often did and exhaled.

"Give us a few more minutes will ya?" Jareth stepped out, but he did not close the door. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I couldn't come to you. I don't have the powers of the Goblin King… I lost them… I didn't know how to find you, I didn't know where you were, but thought you might come here. Plus we had to gather the goblins from the city anyways… I will tell you everything I know and visa versa when we go back into hiding, Ok?" Sarah mimicked Toby with her hands and looked at the ceiling.

"Master Toby!" Skub ran up and snuggled into Toby's pant leg.

"Sarah?" Moulin sat under her umbrella.

"Come on. We can't stay here, it's not safe."

"Then I can come with you still?"

"Of course. I promised you I would help you out." Moulin didn't clam down.

"What about the Goblin King, Jareth?" Sarah smothered her childish fear and bit down hard on reality.

"Toby and I will keep you safe. I will do whatever I can to make sure your mothe… Mizumi does not find you and Jareth will not hurt you." She didn't sound as confident as she has wished.

"We better go. The goblins can go on without us… we have a lot to talk about… I missed you Sarah." Toby gave Sarah another hug and she returned it without attacking him. He felt real to her and it was the only thing of home she had in this place and she would not lose him again.

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Outside Jareth stood with his hands at his side and his eyes on the door frame to the house which housed Toby, Moulin, Skub and Sarah. He repeatedly had to unclench his jaw when it became sore and his listened carefully. His mind checked of things in his mind that were different now with the return of his ablation. The way she looked, the way she sounded and he even noticed what she smelled liked; it was enough to make him scream. His fingers tingled as he forced them into a neutral position at his side while his legs felt like lead. He'd not thought he would see her so soon, didn't imagine she would fall out of a goblin shake in the city and he'd been stunned into silence the moment she turned to look at him. He'd had to forced his mouth to form words then and again when he'd walked into the goblin home. Her eyes had looked at his face, his clothes and everything about him and she had summed him up in just a few short moments. What had shocked him was that he'd cared and wondered what she thought. He didn't wear fine clothes, his hands were dirty and he'd last bathed two days ago. While she looked tanned and almost at home, completely unaffected by the hardship that Labyrinth cost every other soul.

"We better go. The goblins can go on without us… we have a lot to talk about… I missed you Sarah." Toby embraced his sister and she held him close as if he might drift away; Jareth turned and walked away, more thoughts in brain now than when he had brought a human girl to Labyrinth and told her she had thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth before he claimed her baby brother forever… the only similar thought now to then was time itself.


	40. Chapter 40 The Deal

The paths had wound in circles it seemed and then slowly, slowly the hedges and walls about them closed around them swallowed them.

"An oubliette; makes an odd and creepy kind of sense." Sarah followed behind Toby into the oubliette that had been being used as their safe house. It was smart and unlikely that Mizumi would look for them inside a very place one is put to be forgotten.

"That's what I thought… Anyways." Toby pulled out a chair from the corner and dusted off despite the fact that Sarah was covered in more dirt that he was.

"Alright… alright." Sarah sat down and tensed when the door opened and admitted Jareth. He looked at her for a moment before closing the door and ignoring her. :We need a plan and I have a rough idea of what we can do, have to do and should do…" She sighed and ran a hand down her face. She looked at Jareth from her peripheral and continued. "He needs his throne back. The Goblins won't leave you alone until we do. They will search for their king whether because they need you or want you. So Jareth needs to get it back… which means we need to get rid of Mizumi.

"About that Sarah… Things have changed. I'm not the King of Labyrinth anymore… Not sure how it happened, but I don't have powers or anything anymore." He watched the anger rise in her face and she smothered it.

"Fine. Fine… doesn't change much then. Mizumi still has to go and 'he' needs to get it back. So, as I see it Mizumi is ruler in name and power. I plan to go to this hall of prophecy and see what exactly yours says. See if I can get one myself and change yours for the better." Against the hammer of her heart she turned to Jareth. He may look human, be acting almost kind, but she didn't buy it and she didn't trust him. The look on his face when he turned to her was startling thought.

"That would be useless and unwise." He didn't look at her and for that she was grateful.

"Why?" Toby and Sarah's voice synchronized and called Jareth's face to theirs.

"Because all Prophecies are a pack of lies; I made sure to it when I became ruler here. The idea is empty now and as none no remain in Labyrinth to give a true prophecy it is useless to bother…" Both siblings ran their hands through their hair.

"Then why have them?" Jareth's eyes turned to Sarah. They were heavy and dark behind his lids and she revolted against the animal instinct to shudder.

"It is simply a formality with no substance. It has been a thing of Labyrinth since before me and I have abolished it for all the help it has been…" His arrogance allowed her to gain a little of her own. She was forgetting that she was not a child to be buried under him.

"You were the last? What was your prophecy then?" That seemed to hit a nerve. He moved from his chair and leaned over the small table. Sarah and Toby was out of their seats as well; Sarah bent and ready to fight if he tried to hit her and Toby already had his fist pulled back to help her. Jareth was amused slightly with how quickly Toby picked sides.

"That is none of your concern, Sarah. I didn't care for it so I destroyed the tradition and banished those that practiced the art itself. I may not Labyrinth as a whole, but be warned. I will not tolerate you violating Labyrinth or my business." Sarah gapped and then laughed.

"You dare demand things like this of me? You walked into MY life, you stole My brother. Twice. You dragged my into the world, you challenged me to your game and I won. Be the selfish, overbearing and throne-less King." She walked around the table, her chair scrapping along the ground noisily." I came here to bring back my brother and from what I've heard, he's not King anymore. Mizumi doesn't care for me or Toby. We could leave right now and remain indifferent." Jareth's head tilted up as she stood right in front of him. She was too close. Far to close.

"Stop." That seemed to only egg her on though.

"No. You stop. I am not your play thing. I am offering you this one chance. I will help you get your stupid throne back and once that is all said and done you will owe me. A royal debt if you will and I already have my request. You will never interfere with me or my family ever again. No minion of yours will ever interact with me or my family again and you will never, never come before us. Ever. So make your choice Jareth." She was breathing heavily and her hands had balled into fists. Her teeth clenched, her shoulders tense and she stood ready to attack or bolt. She faintly smelled of the bog, her hair was dull from dirt and her clothes fared little better. _This is not the things you should be paying attention to. Take her offer. Send her away and never look to her again. Never think of her again and pray you can forget…_

_I_

"A promise then." His voice was deep and almost dark when he spoke. He looked at home in the oubliette in Sarah's eyes, but he was as tense as she, his voice was manicured and forced to his need and his eyes never wavered though he might have wished they would. "Give me back my Kingdom…" He leaned down and she bent back slightly. Toby had no clue what to do. This was beyond him and out of his realm of understanding. The odd relation-ship that Sarah and the Goblin King had was between them alone. "And I will make sure that this will be last I interfere. I swear on my throne."

"You don't have a throne to swear on… swear on your ablation. That I know you have." She watched something snap and reconnect in the same moment. She was pushing him, driving him and he was allowing it.

"Fine… though I doubt it still exists." Jareth turned sharply and left leaving Toby to explain what he knew of ablations. As the door closed on rusted hinges Jareth moved between the crowds of goblins that were heeding the call of their 'king'. He passed them all by and soon found him alone.

"If it exists…" Jareth opened his hand out before him and willed power back to himself to no avail. This thought drifted to Moppet. Looked like Sarah, looked at him like Sarah… for him, she was a part of Sarah. It irked him that Moppet may have been undone. She must have for him to have the love and loath for Sarah back… but why? Why had Mizumi done it?... Did it matter now? He'd made a deal. Get his kingdom back and let her go. _Wrong, make her go. It is no longer a choice, is it? _Or was it_. No, you tried to get rid of her. _Did you, really? Why not make the ablation her memory? Not your foolish love for her? _Can't hate what you can't remember? _Why hate when you can forget… _ I didn't want to…_

His looked down at his hand and clenched.

"Jareth." Toby walked towards him and stopped a few feet away…

"I'm not saying what you're doing is right and how she's acting is either. But you're both supposed to be adults… I'm not saying to call her princess or even treat her like on, but gezz… every time you talk to her it's with a tone, and you look at her like a goon." That was news to him.

"That so? And how should I talk to her? How should I look at her?" _You don't want the answer to that, do you?_

"Talk to her like you do me instead of demeaning her. Look at her like you're not debating whether to attack her or something." _Attack her? Attack her? You can't be serious. I wouldn't hurt her… _

"I, am not to be bargained with. I will not heed the demands of a human boy that thinks he knows what he is talking about." Toby rolled his eyes and walked away completely exhausted with everything that had happened since the Goblin city.

"It's not what I think, Jareth. She was the one complaining. I thought I would just try and make this retarded reunion of yours easier. You're both stubborn asses… God… You guys can argue it out yourselves." Toby left and Jareth was seething now.

_She's angry with you now. Seething even. You glare at her and she might explode… better than you looking at her like you used to though, no?_ Jareth dug his nails into his palm to silence the voice in his head. _Why not just tell her everything? Tell her you banned an entire race because of her. Tell her you loved her and she hated you for it, maybe that will soften her up. Tell her that you planned to stay in the human world after pawning Toby over to Mizumi too while you're at it. She'll love you then…_

"When King of old forsakes his hall, and chaos comes to goblin town. A Human boy shall heed the call. The long lost heir shall don the crown. A promise of yore, born of blood, will open the path to Labyrinth's heart. And usher forth a wondrous flood. A new era then shall start. When friends and family lost and prince rest into dark abyss…" He paused unable to force himself to finish his own prophecy. He remembered the face of the creature that had given it to him. Old wizened looking thing covered with colourful layers of cloth… and a rather annoying hat. "This all began with him…"


	41. Chapter 41 The Secret of Underground

Bitter. Bitter and angry. Toby could see it when in walked back into the oubliette and Sarah was oozing it from every pore on her body. She sat with both elbows on her knees yet she had the look of being ill at ease and ready to strike should you pop her bubble of loathing.

"I spoke to him for you." She glared at him and he could see her hold back the need to throttle him. He'd only been trying to help.

"I don't want to you talking to him honestly and I definitely do not what you talking to him about me." She resumed seething in her chair, back hunched and forearms dangling loosely toward the ground.

"Alright, but only if you explain why the hell you two can't for thirty fricken seconds look at each other without expecting the other to erupt into flames? I get it. He stole me as a babe, made you jump through hoops, but I got teachers that do that to me… minus baby stealing… He talks with an attitude, you have that, he walks like he owns the place, he actually used to own the place. I tried to help and now I'm done. Explain why he's the evilest man on the face of the planet, and trust me, I've seen and been the losing side of his plans before, but tell me. Otherwise you can deal with him alone. I leave and leave you two to fight it out cause this is bullshit."

"Enough. Isn't it enough to just say he's not a hero? He's Jareth, he stole my brother from me and asked me to stay with him and let you become a goblin. And when I get you back, he later plots to steal you again, drag me back here, lets you almost take the fall for his mistakes… It goes on. He's rude, manipulative, and arrogant and I swear he's a sadist or somewhere." She grew red in the face the longer she tried to explain. "He wanted me… he wanted me to... God dammit! He wanted things beyond my control and he went the completely wrong way to get what he wanted. I was not a tool to be used, a person to be enslaved and bullied and worst of all, he terrified me. I almost lost you Toby." Now he felt like an ass. This was harder for her than he thought it would be. "He scared me so much… I forced my friends to leave me alone. I had so many sleepless nights and whenever you feel asleep I found I couldn't sleep until I checked to make sure you were still there. I stopped dreaming of never-never lands and happily ever afters. I gave up my dreams because I was afraid that one day they might come true and warp into something I no longer recognized afterwards. That one day they might come and swallow me up and leave me in one of these oubliettes and everyone I knew would forget about me…"

She was crying. He'd never seen her cry like this. Not in a long time. She didn't just cry, but she shook with the force of spilling a lifetimes worth of fears and regrets out.

"Oh God Sarah… I didn't know. I never knew. You could have told me! You could have confided in me. I would have believed you, I swear." Her head hung low in the chair and her tears left small drops of mud behind.

"Sarah." She bolted upright from the chair and the tear streaked down her check, the unguarded, weak and vulnerable face that always seemed to be composed had fallen away. Then is clouded with confusion and absolute fear and for Jareth whom had decided to do all he could to regain Labyrinth and his freedom was unmanned and caught completely off-guard.

"This is not the time Jareth." Toby shielded his sister with his own body as if Jareth might strike her down in her moment of weakness.

"Unfortunately it is…" He sat down and tried as he might to not scowl or glare. "I need to speak with Sarah in private." She shook her head and Toby turned and looked at her.

"You have been running for way too long. You have been fighting for this moment. You made a deal, remember? Fulfill your end of the deal and you can have everything you lost. You can go and be in theater. You can read those stories you loved so much without fear, but if you don't face him along with the rest, you will always be afraid and always been looking over your shoulder. That's not a place you wanted me in, right? Well, I don't want you to be there either. I can wait right outside." She looked at Toby as if he was an angel… one that was about to feed her to demons. "Jareth… you say the wrong thing and I don't care if you get back your kingdom. I'll take Sarah and then when she is safe, I might come back just to point Mizumi in your direction." Interested by the bond Sarah and Toby shared, Jareth remained silent while Toby left and closed the door behind him. His shadow remained outside the door, unmoving.

"I will not return to the time when you were here last. I will not act on any bias I may have had or otherwise. I will say this…" _You're really going to tell her this? You're going to tell her everything? Does it matter? It won't change anything Jareth. She's going to reject you at your lowest and you will never be free of her memory. Ablation or no. _Shut up. "I have done a great many things that others have had little liking for. I stole your brother, yes. I have claimed things that were beyond even me all because of a prophecy… one I could not change. Labyrinth requires a ruler. Mizumi would make a poor one." Sarah glanced back at him and he managed to only give her a passing look to save her from her own thoughts. _I do tend to glare… Hurin had said as much. _"Defeat Mizumi, I am without magic. Hand me my throne and you shall never see the light or hear the sounds of this place again as per our deal. I will not interfere and as to show some sort of truth to the matter, I take responsibility for the events of 13 years before… Any grudge I once held, I absolve you of and thus any fear you may still carry, I hope I can keep here when you leave." _That's all you could manage? My, My… what about Underground? Are you going to tell her about Underground. _"One last thing… The contents of your hopes and dreams… I did not take them from you as you might think. You left them upon leaving Labyrinth. Underground is the physical embodiment of those things you once had or so I believe. I have access to them, it remains unchanged under the castle and was how I was able to gain entrance into your world in the first place… The moment that place no longer exists in Labyrinth, you will be safe from Labyrinth and all of its denizens, myself included." She gapped. She couldn't believe it. Underground, a gateway between worlds, hers, the dreams she once held in such high regard… even Jareth's honesty.

"I don't know how to take it back with me."

"Nor do I. It is not might to alter; I've tried and only figured out what it was long after. I showed in my world and connected itself to my castle, changed Labyrinth from the outside and so forth and so forth. Take it with you when you leave. It does not belong here just as you do not."

Suddenly a feeling of indifference washed over him. He felt it start in his chest and work its way into his hands and stomach. It wrapped around his back in an odd kind of warmth and then disappeared and he wondered if it had happened at all. A sigh whispered out from between his teeth. Something had changed.

"Fine." She said that, but she needed time for his information to seep in.

"I'm leaving with the goblin Skub. I will return later… perhaps." And he stood up and walked away without another word. The feeling of having said all that he had was… not nearly as ease making as he'd though. Instead he'd felt that it didn't matter. Everything in Labyrinth was his and so Underground was his…_ And yet… were does that thinking stop? She's here isn't she…? _Something isn't right here.

"Wait." Sarah move forward and rummaged a moment through her bag that contained the one thing of his that she had. It only seemed right, and when her fingers touched the cold crystal a humming blasted through the air and light sight-shocked her into dropping on the dirt ground where it rolled to Jareth's feet.

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In the darkness of the tunnels under the castle, Hana and Moppet left Underground. A gentle yearning was left in them as they wondered in hopes of finding a way above. Neither spoke of the woman in the white shirt and blue pants; who had an unbelievable likeness to Moppet herself… They said nothing at all and Moppet refrained from telling Hana that her chest ached. Thankfully the pain lessened into a dull pang and then into nothing at all.


	42. Chapter 42 Interpritation

He was gone and had been for a while now. He'd opened the door and left while Toby still sat outside and vanished with Skub who despite all his love for Toby, went without a raised word.

"What happened? You alright?" Sarah now sat in the chair once again. The conversation with Jareth had been so quick really that it still retained some heat from last she rested in it.

"He left and won't come back. He said if I help him, he will leave me be…and that Underground is not a part of Labyrinth. It's a part of me." Toby looked at her, his brows pinched together with thought.

"Underground? I've heard of it in passing. Maybe from Mizumi or Jareth. But it yours? Why is it here then?" She glanced at him with almost no expression on her face. She seemed emptied out or hollow inside.

"I brought it here…" This was hard for her to grasp, but it clearly made a kind of sense to her all the same. "I think, with all my dreaming of this place when I was young… and wanting an adventure like I'd had wanted, to escape from my world, I forced myself into this world. And the more I played roles and dreamed of this place… it started to become a reality. Jareth said Underground is my hopes and dreams. I left them when I ran from Labyrinth with you in arm. But I definitely didn't bring them with me. They died in that place… or rather, I thought they had." What a strange thing. _Was Underground my own version of an ablation?_ She didn't want to think about it.

"Ok. This doesn't change much then. The choice is yours; do we stay or do we leave now?" Sarah was having serious concerns about either choice. Could Jareth keep a promise? _He'd let you go before. You solved the Labyrinth and won back your brother. _After taking a few hours away…

"The choice is yours. You made this Goblin Revolution not me and they follow you by the looks of it."

"We're staying then. I don't feel right leaving them like this. To a fate of Mizumi's choosing and I don't want you to worry any more. I want you to be safe."

"You're going to make me cry again…" She got out of the chair and draped herself over her brother. She loved him so much. He was a pain in the ass, sarcastic and everything that embodied a beloved brother and she held on to him like a life line now because she couldn't rely on herself. Not just yet.

"Don't do that. I don't want to be all soaking wet." She leaned back and punched him. The normality in that moment was a good dose of what she needed ;routine.

"Alright. Alright." She wiped tears away from stick cheeks and rubbed her eyes. "We need a plan. A good one. Get into the castle. Force Mizumi out and fight her back into her own Kingdom. I say we split the army. You get half and I get half, but first I want to see if the Castle has more than one way it. Skub would have been great for that, but Jareth has taken him. I think if we can take the castle by surprise and get a hold of her. Well. I don't think she'll put up much of a fight. But just in case. I need to find out if anyone or even if there is a way, to fight magic. Got any ideas?"

"Not really. I was just going with storm the castle and throw her out. I'll talk to the Goblins and see what kind of information they have. A good amount of the lot outside is from the castle and Goblin city so they might now a way. I'll get back to you…" He left her sitting in the oubliette and wondered if she would really be alright. She talked normal and all, but she still didn't look right.

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Jareth got away from the outskirts of Goblin City with Skub in tow. His mind he forced onto work and getting back control of Labyrinth. Skub remained silent until Jareth demanded information that only he had.

"Give me an update of all that has changed." Jareth's voice was cold and smooth. He had a plan of his own and he was going to see how much of it had to be altered or changed by whatever Skub told him.

"One wing of the castle has been destroyed; by magic. Mizumi's army is stretching out across Labyrinth had has gone as far as the Bog. They have gone no further. A small Goblin town though not under your command yet has sided with Sarah…" He purposely forgot to mention that they had dubbed her 'Queen'. Jareth might kick him if he did.

"And Underground?" Jareth stopped in his tracks. Skub had made few mistakes in his reports to date. The fact that Underground was always mentioned yet was forgotten here didn't pass Jareth by.

"U-Underground… h-has been breached." Jareth barely heard Skub then. He'd expected a few things to have changed because Sarah was present, but to have been breached? Impossible.

"How, by whom?" Skub stepped back. His information was never wrong, but something, just sometimes, the information just wasn't there. And worse, it was and he was afraid of the consequences of that information.

"Moppet and a faery."

"Skub… If I find out you are lying…" He'd bent over to intimidate the little creature, but stood up as his head tilted up slightest and rolled to the side. "She is alive then…" _Explain what happened then? You tasted that forbidden fruit, yet Moppet still lives. How is that possible?_ She entered Underground. _She knows Jareth. She understands everything now. Underground would have told her. It would have had no choice. She will look for and find Sarah because now they are bonded. All three of you are now…_"Underground remains? It is unchanged?" Skub nodded quickly in hopes of saving his skin.

"It is safe and unharmed." Skub was a great many things. A coward, small, unsightly, sometimes he could even smell himself, but he had a near perfect memory when it came to a few things. Underground was one of them and he shared an uncanny relationship with that place. The other two places were the castle beyond the goblin city and the lands beyond the great walled gates that enclosed Labyrinth. "Our boarders are heavily populated with the Queen or Moraine's people. They have met with a lot of hostility getting into Labyrinth." His one skill above his memory was that Labyrinth held no secrets from him. He was never lost, knew almost all the peoples within Labyrinth and the Labyrinth itself. Well, it protected itself most times. The rest was a matter of Skub telling it what to do. This was why no matter how much Skub might fail the King of the Goblins, he was never was from his reach. He had a skill…

"Excellent. Keep them out as long as possible. Those walls collapse and you will _want_ to live in the Bog…

_And as for myself. I have an oblation to find…_ _The one other thing he'd not thought possible in all of his plans and all of this time as Goblin King was this. He was all but magic-less due to his loss of the Labyrinth and he would rather lose it then tell Sarah that she was the current ruler. _Labyrinth is a fickle thing… He realized it the moment she'd given back one of his crystals and being in close proximity to her for so long it was charged fully with unspent energy. Magic he could wield magic with it, but only so much. Why Labyrinth had picked her he would never now. She would not care to know she was the actual Queen of the Goblins…

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He laughed then, hard and loud. It frightened Skub to hear it.

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_I tried for so long and so very hard to make her my Queen and here she stands… the polar opposite of Mizumi and in all technicalities, my Queen. _The laughter died and his thoughts bent one past motivations. _Impossible… Impossible… _His plans he suddenly thought might not work at all and he stood still and silent while he teetered on a single thought that devoured and consumed his mind; A small notion that had always bothered him and suddenly seemed to close in around him and all but slap him.

"I'm no longer the King of the Goblin's…" His past unraveled into violent detail.

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_Tell me, Prophet. What does the future have in store for the ruler of Labyrinth?_

Jareth was encased in a cold more intense that what Esker had managed. The future hadn't always been his… The prophecy stood for the future of Labyrinth, not his furture of Labyrinth…

"Dammit all to the pits of the Bog!" His hand rose and he nearly threw the crystal ball which would have smashed it far beyond repair. Instead he drew his hand back down and shook with the weight of impending doom…

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His fear was that only the first half of the prophecy pertained to himself… the rest was for Sarah herself as Goblin Queen…

"The last line of the prophecy is hers… Over my dead body…" This was a prophecy he'd sought to obliterate because he assumed it was his. All his… now he was thoroughly concerned that it didn't. He was going to make for a damn surety that that prophecy never made itself come to pass.


	43. Chapter 43 A Plan Is Brewing

Note to all readers. Yours truly, Amaterusa, has started making a family and I am pregnant. As such, due to the astounding amount of illness I`ve been dealing with lately, new chapters will be slowing down; A very sad thing. I will continue to try and put out chapters as normal, but expect delays and thank you so much for your reviews and comments to date. A special thank you to J Luc Pitard, a very early and continual reviewer and also PhoenixBlade for his recent contribution though you all are greatly appreciated for your time and thoughts.

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Toby spent the next three hours oubliette hopping. He spoke to this goblin or the one on the right in hopes of finding hidden ways into the castle and he was lucky; sort of. There were a handful of passages into the castle obscure enough to be looked over, but they were too well hidden because most couldn't recall where they were.

"I need Skub…" The little goblin had been whisked away by Jareth and neither of them had been seen since. Hana would have been a good person to find for help, but she was not a part of the revolution just as yet and he wasn't sure she would help him if she was. "Dammit…" He was without magic, without ideas and without direction.

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Sarah on the other hand sat with her chair leaning back against the walls of the oubliette. The chair creaked and moaned when she shifted in it, but it held never the less.

"Alright…" She leaned forward and the floor echoed the sound of all four legs leveling. Before her was a very modest drawing of the castle from what she remembered and from what Toby had told her so far. The good thing was that an entire wing of the castle had been burned away to ashes and thus cutting a lot of work aside. "We need to over whelm the Queen. She'll have too many targets to use spells on… I'd expect an attack from the front if I was her, but having Jareth and Toby missing means she'll know that the attack is planned. I need to circle her thoughts around so many times that she wouldn't know what is actually a diversion and what isn't." She thought of how many squads to use to attack the castle and then paused. "She doesn't know the castle like Jareth did." He knew where to hide and one of the reasons she'd made it into the castle before was because there had only been four to her party… the entire army was going to be her diversion.

"Does the Lady need anythin'?" Sarah looked at the heavily armored goblin at the door and shook her head.

"No. Wait, yes. I'd like something to drink and food. I'd like you to ask Moulin to join me as well… That is all. Thank you." The goblin stumbled and bowed a few times as he left and shortly after Moulin came in. "I need to ask you a few things. Tell me about the places you explored while in the castle. I know you were never idle and were always about. Did you ever find hidden passages, tunnels or anything like that?" Moulin sat down in the chair Jareth had once and looked at the drawing on the table.

"Not really. The dungeons I think were below this area though… and I fled down tunnels until they lead me outside. I was lost for a long while though and wouldn't find my way back. But when I did get out there were trees and the city wall was just a short distance from there. I could take you there at least, but to get back to the dungeons? I'd get lost for sure…" Sarah got up and left the oubliette. She had to wander around the tall grass hedges to get a view of the castle, but when she did she knew there was only one side of the castle that lead out into tress. She stared longer at the castle as billows of smoke rose still from the demolished wing Mizumi had attacked. Ashes floated far enough on the wind that they carried to where she hid in an oubliette. Her army also hid mostly in the oubliette. Some had been told to hold Goblin City and make it look normal as possible, but more and more denizens of Labyrinth swarmed in and soon there would be no place to hid them all.

"Sarah?" She turned and began to laugh. Hoggle stood in the glory of a prince while four creatures like Ludo wore clothes about their faces.

"Sarah!" One creature called her out by name and she knew it was in fact Ludo. He lumbered towards her on heavily padded feet and hugged her so tightly that he lifted her form the ground.

"Ludo. Hoggle, you came." Ease set into her then. It had been hard coming back to this place, but seeing two of her friends now lifted so much of her aches away that she laughed again.

"Of course I did. Said I did. He took a while to find though…" Hoggle pointed at Ludo and then at the others.

"Who are these creatures? Do they have names like Ludo?" Ludo placed her down and Ludo walked to his companions.

"Ludo friends."

"Hando." The largest and reddish colored one.

"Shivan" Slight smaller than Hando and grey.

"Tor" Black as the night and Ludo`s height if only taller by an inch or so.

All the creatures identified themselves and oddly enough Ludo was the smallest of them; a frightening thought. They all were all generally the same build and even voice, but they were easily different. Ludo was smallest and reddish in color while his friends ranged from, coal, to mindnight.

"Welcome friends." All four of them nodded their heads and muttered 'friends' under there thick and heavy voices. "Now… where might I hide you guys… your far too large to hide in an oubliette…" Hoggle waddled over and placed a hand on her arm.

"Don't worry. There are some goblins in the city who have already agreed to hide them." Ludo left with his large companions and she watched them go. _They really are giants…_

"There huge…" Hoggle nodded in agreement.

"I know. The big one picked me up the moment I showed myself. I had been following Ludo and he just took me off my feet…" Hoggle seemed rather hard done by the incident.

"We have to talk Hoggle… A lot has happened since you went to gather people." They walked into the oubliette and Toby sat staring at her own crappy castle drawing.

"Is this the young prince?" Hoggle walked over and looked at Toby like he was something else altogether.

"Hi. I don't remember you from my coronation. Did you not attend?" Toby said that and walked forward then stepped back. "What is that smell?" Sarah shook her head at Hoggle and Toby winced. "S-sorry…" Hoggle handed Sarah a bottle of a yellowish substance and she poured it on to clothes and handed one to Toby. He almost sighed with the improvement that a bit of perfume could make.

"That's why." That was all he said before sitting down with a grunt. "So what are we going to do with the Queen?" He poked at the table and stared at the walls of the oubliette; he was remembering.

"Well, I've decided to do much liked we did before; a battle in front of the castle while a small party of just a few sneak in. We find Mizumi; fend off her magic somehow and… I really haven`t a plan for this… I can't figure out a safe way to get around her magic. Sure Jareth had used magic before, but not like burning down half the castle. I think I can get us in, with a little luck. But dealing with her? I've no clue." Moulin shifted over so Toby could get a better look of the castle. She knew very well an easy way to kill the Queen, but she was not volunteering for it and so she stayed silent. Hoggle gave her a glance, knowing who she was, but ignored it. _He trusted the humans a great deal; So much that his own concerns he left as a passing thought. Interesting._ Moulin crossed her arms with her umbrella resting in the crock of her twisted limbs.

"If we can stop her magic we can hold her hostage and ransom her back to her kingdom with the agreement that all her army leaves Labyrinth… and that we'll keep Moulin as a sign of good faith. That way they shouldn't really attack. Or at least Labyrinth will be somewhat prepared. We just need to get Labyrinth back into Jareth's hands…"

"What?!" Hoggle tilted back in his chair and near fell out of it. His toes just scrapped the floor while he pushed away from the table with his arms. "You're giving it back to Jareth?" She hadn't told Hoggle very much yet… She regretted it now.

"Yes. I made a deal…" The deal was starting to sting a bit when she thought about the repercussions now. She would lose them all over again and this this time it would be permanent. "I get Labyrinth away from Mizumi and he leaves my family alone. Forever… but it's not that easy. Trust me. We have a lot of work to do." Hoggle looked at her as if she'd hit him and then he looked back to the table long and hard. "Any ideas? We need to divide the army up into manageable sections. I think because Hoggle has a start with Ludo and his friends he should start there and lead them and another unit. Toby, I want you in charge of the major goblin masses because they easily fight for you. You inspire them… as for Moulin and I. We are going into the castle. She knows the rout I want to take best I think… Do you know this Moppet and Hana if you see them?" Sarah turn to the dumb struck Moulin who nodded shakily. "Good. If we find them, we can get their help I think. Same with Didymus… We have to work on a strong diversion and attack to bring as much of her men to the front you'll be attacking leaving us a clear path. What do you think?" Toby nodded like the plan made sense and he was the only one. Moulin and Hoggle looked like they had been shell-shocked. "Alright… I think for now that is as good as we are getting. We need rest and then tomorrow we talk to our groups… We let them know this war is moving onward and with a plan, tell them that Labyrinth will be their home, safe and secure, again."


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